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OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



THE PUPIL. A study of the pupil in the suc- 
cessive stages of his developing life and the 
means and methods of his rehgious nurture. 

THE TEACHER'S STUDY OF THE LIFE 
OF CHRIST. An evaluation of the Gospels 
as materials of religious instruction for 
pupils of the various grades. 

THE BIBLE. A brief introduction to the study 
of the Bible. 



THE WORKER AND HIS BIBLE. By 

Frederick Carl Eiselen and Wade Crawford 
Barclay. 
LIFE IN THE MAKING. By Wade Craw- 
ford Barclay, Arlo A. Brown, William J. 
Thompson, Harold J. Sheridan, and Alma 
S. Sheridan. 



The Principles of 
Religious Teaching 



BY 

WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY 




THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



^v 



r^ 



3 



First Standard Manual of Teacher Training 

Copyright, 1912 and 1914, by 

WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY 

The Pupil, the Teacher, and the School 

Copyright, 1915, by 

WADE CRAWFORD BARCLAY 

The Principles of Religious Teaching 

Copyright, 1920, by 
WADE CRAWFORD B.^CLAY 



DEC '^ 1320 

g)CLA604432 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface 5 

To THE Teacher 7 

I. The Teacher's First Pupil 9 

II. The Purpose and General Method of In- 
struction 17 

III. Types of Instruction : The Story 27 

IV. Types of Instruction : Questioning and the 

Discussion Method 34 

V. Types of Instruction: The Recitation, Re- 
views, AND Examinations 44 

VI. Illustrations 55 

VII. Lesson Plans 65 

VIII. Interest and Attention 73 

IX. The Use of Motives 84 

X. The Cultivation of Religious Feeling 95 

XI. Teaching Through Activity 106 

XII. The Class as a School for Social Living 116 

Appendix 123 

Index 129 



PREFACE 

Religious pedagogy is one of the newer branches of the sci- 
ence of education. Despite the fact that teaching was made 
central by the Founder of Christianity both in his practice and 
in the Great Commission to his disciples and the further fact 
that many of the most notable achievements of the church 
through the ages have been due to the faithful exercise of this 
central function, modern church leaders, until very recent 
years, have given scant attention to the development of the princi- 
ples and technique of religious teaching. Rapid progress has been 
made during the last two decades, but much pioneer work yet 
remains to be done. 

The author offers this brief treatment as a modest contribu- 
tion in a rapidly developing field. The book does not assume to 
be anything more than an introduction to a subject that deserves 
far more adequate treatment. Being constantly reminded of the 
limitations of teacher-training classes, particularly in the matter 
of time for study and the practical difficulty of completing long 
courses, the author has felt the necessity of brevity in the 
discussion of many topics that he would have preferred to treat 
in much greater detail. 

In an earlier volume (The Pupil) it was suggested that prac- 
tically the whole of the teacher's task is comprehended in the 
term "religious nurture." The problem that engaged attention 
throughout the textbook was. How may we most effectively nur- 
ture the moral and religious life of the pupil? The present dis- 
cussion may be considered a further study of the same general 
problem. In the earlier study the question constantly in mind 
was, What are the pupil's needs that we must meet in nurtur- 
ing his moral and religious life? In our present study we con- 
tinue to regard the pupil as central and keep his needs con- 
stantly before us, but the problem that chiefly engages attention 
is rather the process by which the religious life may be de- 
veloped. Our question is. What are the means by which the 
teacher may most effectively nurture the pupil's moral and re- 
ligious life? Since we are thinking not of teaching in general 
but of religious teaching in a Christian school we may even more 
explicitly state our purpose by saying that we study the priii- 

5 



6 PREFACE 

ciples of Christian nurture. In a third volume we shall con- 
sider the principles of nurture in terms of the organization and 
management of the school. 

The plan of treatment is simple and will be obvious upon 
examination. Teaching is not defined narrowly, in terms of in- 
struction only, as has been the usual practice in the past. 
Rather it is conceived in broader and more vital terms. The 
teacher's task is to nurture the religious life of the pupil (1) 
by personal association, (2) by instruction, (3) by the cultiva- 
tion of religious feeling, (4) by training in Christian conduct 
and service. No Sunday-school teacher is really eflacient who 
ignores any one of these vital elements in the teaching process. 

The author's indebtedness to leading authorities in the field 
of general education is evidenced by numerous references. This 
indebtedness is here gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due 
and are hereby expressed to authors and publishers for per- 
mission to use quotations from copyrighted books. 

In the hope that it may be helpful to many earnest teachers, 
and young people about to become teachers, who are seeking to 
present themselves approved unto God, workmen who need not 
to be ashamed, this book is sent forth upon its way. 

Wade Cbawfobd Baeclay. 
Cincinnati, Ohio, 
September, 1920. 



TO THE TEACHER 

This book is intended as a textbook for the use of training 
classes, either teachers or young people in preparation for teach- 
ing. The teacher of the training class is advised to make a 
careful study of the textbook before beginning his work with 
the class. The book as a whole should be read in order that 
its plan and general contents may be thoroughly familiar in 
advance. Attention is called to the following features: 

The Lesson Statement. — By the lesson statement is meant 
the entire body of the chapter exclusive of the "Construc- 
tive Task" and the "References for Supplementary Reading." 
The lesson statement is intended to be made the basis of dis- 
cussion in the class session. Every member of the class 
should be required to have a copy of the textbook and to 
make diligent study of the lesson. Discussion should be 
participated in by all, and the teacher should not rest con- 
tent until he has secured general participation. Those who are 
backward in expression may be led out by questions. A spirit 
of free and easy conversation is the ideal. Overtalkative mem- 
bers of the group should not be permitted to monopolize the 
time. The teacher who permits himself to fall into the habit 
of doing all the talking or of delivering a lecture based upon the 
lesson statement will accomplish little in training teachers. 

As a rule an entire chapter may be taken as a single lesson. 
If this is done, a class meeting regularly once a week may com- 
plete the text in three months. In some cases, however, it will 
be found that certain chapters contain more material than can 
be thoroughly covered in a single session, especially if the class 
session is less than an hour in length. In this event more than 
one session should be devoted to a chapter. The length of the 
assigned lesson should be determined by the time the members 
of the class have for study, their ability to master the material, 
and the length of the class session. It is not necessary that the 
textbook should be completed in twelve class periods. On the 
other hand, the work should not be allowed to drag. 

The inexperienced teacher who feels the need of guidance in 
method is advised to make a thorough study, in advance, of 
Chapters IV and VII. These chapters will be found to apply 
directly to the teaching of the training class, 

7 



8 TO THE TEACHER 

Constructive Task. — The constructive task involves original 
thought and observation on the part of all members of the 
class. Assignments should be made a week in advance. For 
example, the constructive task for the second lesson, found on 
page 26, should be assigned at the session in which the first 
lesson is discussed. Reports should be mailed or handed to the 
teacher at least two days in advance of the class session. They 
should be read and graded. Frequently the teacher will find in 
these reports valuable points of contact for beginning the dis- 
cussion of the lesson. Some two or three of the best reports 
may be read in the class session. The constructive task is one 
of the most important features of the course. 

References for Supplementary Reading. — These will be 
found to be under two heads. There are, in the first place, 
references to the ''Worker and Work'' series. This is a valuable 
set of eight volumes, uniform in size and style of binding. It 
will be to the advantage of the class to purchase a set of these 
books for its own use. Under the second head, "In tJie Library,'^ 
reference is made to a limited number of the more important 
books in the general field of pedagogy. Those to which most 
frequent references are made should be purchased for the 
workers' library of the Sunday school. If a good public library 
is available, most of these books will be found in it. If they 
are not there found, the united request of the class made to 
the public-library board might result in their purchase. The 
workers' library of the Sunday school should be provided by the 
local Sunday-school board for the service of the teachers and 
oflBcers of the school. In addition some of the class may be will- 
ing to invest in one or more of these books for personal use. 

Enrollment of Classes. — As this textbook is regularly ap- 
proved as a textbook in teacher training, any class studying it 
is entitled to enrollment as a teacher-training class. The suc- 
cessful completion of an examination will entitle the members of 
the class to credit by certificate. Each class should be regu- 
larly enrolled with its denominational Sunday-school board. 
Correspondence with the Department of Teacher Training will 
bring valuable assistance in the use of the textbook and con- 
duct of the required course. 

Teachers are invited to confer freely with the author. He 
may be addressed in care of The Methodist Book Concern, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio. Suggestions and criticisms from teachers are in- 
vited and will be gratefully received. 



CHAPTER I 
THE TEACHER'S FIRST PUPIL 

A BEAUTIFUL and true conception of the teacher's task is that 
symbolized in the memorial to Alice Freeman Palmer at Welles- 
ley College. The teacher stands slightly behind her pupil with 
one hand resting upon the pupil's shoulder while with the other 
she points toward a distant goal, upon which the gaze of both 
teacher and pupil rests. We look in vain for any of the instru- 
ments we commonly associate with schools and teaching. Of 
classroom, textbooks, illustrative objects, there is not the slight- 
est trace. Teacher, pupil, and unseen goal — that is all. 

In beginning our study of the principles of teaching religion it 
is well to realize that nothing else counts for so much in teach- 
ing as character. Personality weighs more than words. Unless 
it speaks loud and clear, spoken words will fall on deaf ears. 
The spirit of the teacher, his moral and spiritual ideals, the 
atmosphere he carries, the disposition he manifests — ^these add 
to or detract from his spoken words and continue to speak when 
he is silent. 

Why Personality Is Supreme in Teaching 

Let us consider briefly some reasons why personality is supreme 
in religious teaching: 

Religion Made Real in Persons. — Religion interpreted in 
words and ideas is likely to seem vague and unreal. In a beauti- 
ful or heroic character it becomes concrete and real. The facts 
of history or of geography can be taught from books, but religion 
is more than fact: it is truth and life and it needs to be seen 
in a human being before it can be understood or given a chance 
to exert its power and influence on others. 

This is one reason why the Bible is a Book of such vital 
power. It is a picture gallery of great souls, a record of heroic 
lives. The explanation and interpretation of religion in sys- 
tematic form is secondary; the record and exhibit of religion in 
the lives of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles is primary. We do 
not go to the Bible for definitions of religion; we go to it for 

9 



10 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

the inspiration, stimulus, comfort, and strength that come to 
us from the lives of its great personalities. 

A missionary had labored for a long time without apparent 
success in preaching to a native tribe. One day the head man 
of the village came to him and said: "We do not understand 
your doctrine. It seems very far off from us. But we have 
been watching you. We believe in you. We admire you. You 
hav€ something in your life that we do not have. If it is your 
religion that has made you what you are, we want it." The 
annals of modern missions are full of similar incidents. Re- 
ligious truth shines clear when embodied in a person. 

Character Nurtured by Personal Influeuce. — Character in a 

pupil is not something that is built as a carpenter builds a house. 
Character grows. It unfolds and grows in the sunshine of a 
beautiful Christian life as under no other influence. The great- 
est thing a teacher ever brings to a child is not lessons from a 
book but the uplift which comes from heart contact with a great 
personality. 

Moral precepts have their value and their place, even as has 
Christian doctrine; but, as President King has said, "no teaching 
of morals and noble ideals by precepts is quite equal in effect and 
influence to the bringing of a surrendered personality into touch 
with a truly noble Christian soul." The same principle has been 
thus expressed by another: "Character comes not by drill but by 
contagion." 

Personal Influence Abides. — Words are readily forgotten, but 
the personal influence of a noble man or a good woman who is a 
teacher goes forth with the pupil to abide with him in ever- 
present power. Teachers are remembered far more for what 
they are than for what they say. 

Great teachers almost invariably work in accord with the 
fundamental principles of teaching; always they possess skill 
in methods, by which their instruction is made effective: but 
it is personality rather than method that makes an abiding im- 
pression upon their pupils. "It was the genuineness of Thomas 
Arnold," says Seely,^ "rather than his methods of instruction, 
that made such a profound impression upon the boys of Rugby 
and sent them out to be the moral and political leaders of Eng- 
land. . . . Someone has said: *It will be told in after days 
how there was once a heaven-born headmaster by the name of 



1 A New School Management, page 4, 



THE TEACHER'S FIRST PUPIL 11 

Thomas Arnold, who, ruling at Rugby and allowing his hoys to 
be merry and mischievous, yet taught them to be good Christians 
and true gentlemen.' " The same writer says of Mary Lyon, of 
Mount Holyoke, that her ideals found expression in such beau- 
tiful and consecrated Christian womanhood that her ideal became 
the ideal of their lives, and most of the girls of the seminary 
went out as Christian women to carry this spirit wherever they 
went. 

The Teachee Training Himself 

Since personality is supreme in teaching, it follows that the 
teacher's first pupil, and his last, is himself. The ultimate deter- 
mination of any person's character and personality is latent 
within himself; he is "the captain of his soul," the "master of 
his fate." "Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thy- 
self?" is an inquiry that is at the same time an injunction — 
one to which every teacher and everyone ambitious to be a 
teacher should give most earnest heed. 

One means of doing this is the study of just such a course as 
this upon which you are now entering. To the untrained teacher 
this textbook may serve as a means of acquiring not a little 
serviceable information; but the giving of information is not its 
sole purpose. It is hoped that its study will be a direct means 
of the enrichment of personality. This means that you are to do 
more than inform yourself concerning the principles of teaching 
set forth in this book: you are to take yourself in hand and make 
of yourself the person you know you ought to 6e. 

Your first concern, therefore, now and always should be to 
develop your personality, constantly to grow in grace and in 
strength, in power of mind, integrity of will, beauty of spirit, in 
knowledge, in generosity — in all Christian graces. Your supreme 
goal is nothing less than completeness of Christian character. If 
you succeed in your great task of being a Christian you cannot 
fail in your task as Christ's teacher. 

It is difficult to single out personal qualities of chief import- 
ance in the teacher. Says Professor Palmer: "There is no human 
excellence which is not useful for us teachers. No good quality 
can be thought of which we can afford to do without." With this 
reservation we venture to suggest certain personal qualities that 
may be cultivated which are of special importance in the work 
of teaching. 

liove. — All the laws of teaching are summed up in this: Thou 
Shalt love thy pupils. The first command of th6 gospel is the 



12 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

first principle in effective teaching. Let a teacher have genuine 
love for his pupils, and no matter how he may be handicapped 
in other ways he will, like Pestalozzi, win in the end. Of course, 
by love we mean a genuine affection for one's pupils, not merely 
liking them so far as they show themselves likable. Dig deep 
enough into his nature and you will find in every child or youth 
that which is worthy of admiration and true regard. Love is at 
once blind and gifted with remarkable vision: it refuses to see 
fickleness and whimsicalness and moodiness and awkwardness, 
and underneath these or any other unlovely qualities that may 
be possessed it sees the man or the woman that is to be. Love 
may be cultivated through sympathy. Says Weimer, "See in the 
child your own self in your youth and you will learn to love the 
child." 

The inestimable value of love and sympathy in a teacher are 
expressed in a strikingly beautiful way in the tribute paid by 
Helen Keller to her teacher, Miss Sullivan. We quote only a 
part of the statement: "It was my teacher's genius, her quick 
sympathy, her loving tact, which made the first years of my 
education so beautiful. . . . [She] is so near to me that I 
scarcely think of myself apart from her. . . . All the best of me 
belongs to her — there Is not a talent or an aspiration or a joy in 
me that has not been awakened by her loving touch."^ 

Good Humor. — Gracious courtesy and kindliness, combined 
with good humor and cheerfulness, will go far toward winning 
the hearts of your pupils. A smile, a cordial word of greeting, 
a spontaneous handshake, if they bear the stamp of genuineness, 
have an almost irresistible appeal. 

As a teacher you will need the gift of seeing the funny side of 
things: a laugh will often save a desperate situation. You will 
need to be light-hearted and happy; to know how to play as well 
as to pray; to be able to enjoy a joke as well as to be deeply 
serious. 

Self- Control and Poise. — Few things are more essential in 
a teacher than the ability to control oneself. Many things will 
happen to try your patience and to vex your spirit but you must 
not allow yourself to be irritated by them. You must learn to 
avoid anxiety, restlessness, hurry, and nervousness, to remain 
calm and unruffled in the presence of distractions and petty 
disturbances. Observation of the effects upon yourself and upon 



The Story of My Life, pages 38-40. 



THE TEACHER'S FIRST PUPIL 13 

others of high and low pitch of voice, of excited and calm tones, 
will emphasize the importance of this. If you become nervous or 
.excited, if you speak in a high key or a harsh voice, your unquiet 
spirit is certain to be communicated to your pupils. The practice 
of self-control, even in such simple ways as controlling the hands 
and feet, the tones and modulation of the voice, will help in 
attaining a composure and poise which will be serviceable at all 
times and a saving grace in times of crisis. 

Conviction and Enthusiasm. — It is the teacher's task to in- 
culcate belief and conviction. To do so you must yourself believe 
and believe intensely. You must be positive. Conviction will 
give carrying power to the truth you teach. Only enthusiasm 
can kindle enthusiasm. Every really great teacher possesses 
these qualities. Take as an illustration Horace Mann, to whom 
American education probably owes more than to any other one 
person. Hinsdale says of him: "His devotion to truth and 
right, as he saw them, his sense of duty, his unselfishness, his 
benevolence, were very marked. His moral earnestness was 
something tremendous and constituted the first of the two great 
motive powers of his life." 

Enthusiasm for the religious teacher must ever be defined 
primarily in terms of spiritual passion. The teacher in whose 
heart the fire of religion has ceased to burn is without one of the 
first qualifications of a religious teacher. Without spiritual 
ardor no teacher can effectively mediate between truth and life. 
Moreover, there must be depth as well as warmth. 

Genuineness is absolutely essential. Insincerity or artificiality 
in the slightest degree is well-nigh fatal. 

A positive, constructive attitude is likewise essential. One 
cannot teach in negatives. Emphasize virtues rather than faults; 
use "do" frequently, "don't" seldom if ever. Keep attention and 
interest centered on the good, the true, the beautiful, the desir- 
able. 

Generosity o£ Spirit. — Respect for the personality of others 
is an important quality in a teacher. You should have regard 
for the opinions of your pupils, for their likes and dislikes, and 
should be patient of their idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. You 
should put the best construction on every act of your pupils and 
be readier to praise than to blame. You will need to be fear- 
less and just but you should never be harsh or critical. You 
should be broad-minded and tolerant; never narrow and bigoted, 
yet ever loyal to the truth as you see it and ready to stand for it 



14 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

at any cost. You should be open and frank, concealing nothing; 
approachable, encouraging your pupils to question you. 

By interesting yourself, so far as you can do so conscientiously, 
in what interests your pupils, even though their interests seem 
to you trivial and narrow, you will awaken in them a readiness 
to respond to your teaching. Your sympathy and genial fellow- 
ship will create a willingness on their part to cooperate with 
you in your plans and purposes for them. 

In these and in other ways peculiar to your own personality, 
ever in increasing measure as grace is given to you, it will be 
your high privilege to show forth in and through your life and 
character the beauty and power of the religion of Jesus Christ. 

The Teacher's Attitude Toward His Work 

The quality of the teacher's work will depend very much on 
his attitude toward it. 

Consciousness of a Great Work. — There is no greater calling 
than that of the teacher. There is no work more important, more 
fundamental, more far-reaching in its results. Testimonies to 
this fact have been many and various. Consider, for example, 
the words of John Bright: "I don't believe that all the statesmen 
in existence and all the efforts they have ever made have tended 
so much to the greatness and the true happiness, the security, 
and the glory of this country as have the efforts of the Sunday- 
school teachers." It is of first importance that the teacher shall 
realize the greatness of the work to which he is called. 

Realization of Need for Training. — We have emphasized 
the supreme importance of personality in teaching, but we would 
have no one draw the unwarranted inference that either char- 
acter or personality can be made a cloak for ignorance or ineffi- 
ciency. Exact knowledge, a real mastery of the principles of 
teaching, skill growing out of study and experience, are required. 
Perhaps second in importance is the realization that teaching is a 
work that requires all possiMe skill, the highest attainaTjle effi- 
ciency. The question is not so much one of present attainments 
in knowledge and skill as it is of steadfast purpose to attain. 
Arnold of Rugby, the great teacher of boys, was wont to declare, 
"I hold that a man is only fit to teach so long as he is himself 
learning daily." In the work of teaching even as in the Christian 
life, though one may confess with the apostle not yet to have 
attained, one ought also to be able to say with all his heart, "I 
press on toward the goal." 



THE TEACHER'S FIRST PUPIL 15 

Eagerness for Hard Tasks. — Teaching is not easy. It makes 
severe demands upon those who engage in it. Often it presents 
diflBculties that are baffling; obstacles that are all but insur- 
mountable. The teacher needs the spirit that is eager for hard 
tasks, willing to attempt the impossible. It is said of the men 
who accomplished the impossible by successfully completing the 
Panama Canal that they came back from their insuperable task 
singing: 

"Got any rivers they say are uncrossable? 

Got any mountains you can't tunne through? 
We specialize in the wholly impossible — 

Doing what nobody ever could uo.'* 

Something of this spirit is required in the teacher. He who is 
impressed with the opportunity that religious teaching offers, 
who gives himself unreservedly, eagerly, and gladly to the work 
and to preparation for efficiency in doing it, who counts diffi- 
culties and sacrifices nothing for the joy of service that is his, 
will find in religious teaching a calling than which there is no 
higher. He who gives himself grudgingly, talks about what sacri- 
fices it involves, or complains because of the difficulties it offers 
is out of place in the rank of Christ's teachers and should either 
change his attitude or cease to think of being a teacher. 

The Sense of Wonder. — The best teachers sometimes become 
disheartened or temporarily discouraged. When the temptation 
comes, it will help one to consider the wonder of the teacher's 
work. It is truly a wonderful work. Meditate upon the fact 
that you are truly God's teacher — a colaborer with Jesus Christ. 
Consider that it is your privilege to aid God in the growth of a 
soul! The wonder of every teacher's work is well stated by 
Taylor: "We are dealing with the mind, not with physical 
forces. The most sensitive instrument ever invented by man 
does not compare with it in delicacy. . . . [We confront] the 
mystery of conscious life. No other phenomenon in the universe 
approaches it in sublimity; no other so fascinates us by its deli- 
cate subtleness. The force of gravitation that holds the stars 
in their courses, the fervent heat that melts down mountains and 
tosses them into the sky, the bolt of lightning that shivers the 
towering monarchs of the forest, powerful though they be, know 
not themselves nor direct a single one of their activities. That 
strange and wonderful attribute conscious life is reserved for the 
child, the man."^ 



1 The Study of the Child, page xli. 



le PRINCIPLES OF RiELlGlOUS TEACHING 



Constructive Task 

1. Recall your own early experience as a Sunday-school pupil: 
What influenced you most? Be definite in your answer. 

2. Think of the best teacher you have ever known. Name 
some of the personal qualities of this teacher that have most 
impressed you. 

3. In addition to those suggested in the lesson statement, name 
other personal qualities that you think a teacher should cultivate. 

4. Write a brief statement in answer to this question: Why 
am I a teacher, or why do I desire to be a teacher? 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In "TJie Worker and Work" series 

1. The teacher come from God: TJie Adult Worker and Work, 
Chapter XIV. 

In the library 

1. The personality of the teacher: A New School Management, 
Seely, Chapter 1. 

2. The teacher's personal equipment: The Making of a Teacher, 
Brumbaugh, Chapter XVII. 

3. The cultivation of personality: The Teacher's Philosophy, 
Hyde, Bart II. 



CHAPTER II 
THE PURPOSE AND GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 

Schopenhauer held that no child under fifteen should be taught 
anything about religion. Cotton Mather, on the other hand, was 
accustomed to take his little daughter Katie, aged four, upon his 
knees, talk to her about her responsibility to God, and drill her 
in the catechism. Which was right? 

There are wide differences in practice and belief even to-day. 
People still may be found who contend that children should not 
be given any formal religious instruction until they have arrived 
at middle or later youth. Probably not many could be found 
who adhere to this view, but occasionally we hear it advanced. 
It is more common to find persons who hold that formal religious 
instruction should be begun as early as the child is able to learn. 
There are many religious people who would see nothing incon- 
gruous in the example of the Puritan leader in drilling his 
four-year-old child in the catechism. Such considerations 
naturally raise the question of the importance, the value, and the 
place of religious instruction. As a part of our work of the 
religious education of our pupils what importance should we 
attach to instruction? What are some of its principal purposes? 

The Purposes of Religious Instruction 

Keligious Interest. — When the child first becomes a Sunday- 
school pupil, some degree of religious interest is already present 
in his mind. Artificial means of maintaining his religious inter- 
est are unnecessary, because religion is the means whereby man 
attains to the highest and best of which his nature is capable, 
and natural impulse toward self-realization can be depended on 
to create interest. But the growth of this interest depends on 
an increasing stock of religious ideas. Unless these are fur- 
nished through religious instruction, natural interest in religion 
gradually wanes. One purpose of religious instruction is there- 
fore that of supplying such suitable religious ideas as will 
nurture and develop the pupiVs present interest in and apprecia- 
tion of religion. 

Religious interest has a feeling side. That is to say, religious 

17 



18 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

interest is partly a matter of knowledge; partly a matter of 
feeling. Instruction in itself is not enough. We are to recognize 
that feeling as well as knowledge is to be enriched and strength- 
ened 

Understanding the Christian Ideal. — Another purpose of 
instruction is tJiat our pupils sTiall de given an understanding of 
the Christian ideal. What does it mean to be a Christian? What 
is the Christian thing to do? What motives and purposes should 
be dominant in one's life? It is at once apparent that this 
involves an acquaintance with the life and teaching of Jesus 
Christ and, indeed, some knowledge, at least, of the Bible as a 
whole. The lack here is very marked. Investigations among 
high-school and college students frequently have revealed that 
inadequate, childish, and almost hopelessly confused ideas are 
held concerning Christian teachings. These investigations have 
had startling confirmation in the results of the study made of 
the religious life and thought of the young men of the American 
army during the Great War.^ These results may be briefly sum- 
marized as follows: (1) The number of those who expressed 
themselves as having no religious faith was negligible. The 
majority of the men were nominally Christians, and a large pro- 
portion had some church connection; but the number who were 
conscious Christians and in active, vital connection with the 
church was relatively small. (2) Probably the most outstanding 
fact emerging from the investigation is the widespread ignorance 
as to the meaning of Christianity and the misunderstanding of 
the fundamentals of Christian faith and life — and that not only 
among men outside the church but also among those nominally 
in its membership. It is evident, declare those in charge of this 
investigation, that "in recent years the church has signally failed 
as a teacher of religion." 

When a pupil has attained clear conceptions of the fundamental 
principles of the Christian religion and is living in accordance 
with the teachings of Christ, the purpose of religious instruction 
may be said to be measurably accomplished. Even then, how- 
ever, there remain vast ranges of information and knowledge by 
which his mind may be still further enriched. To lead our 
pupils in a constantly increasing understanding and appreciation 
of all that has religious significance may be said to be embraced 
within the purpose of religious instruction. 



^Religion Among American Men. The Committee on the War and the Religious 
Outlook. 



GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 19 

Instruction Fulfilled in Conduct. — As indicated in the fore- 
going statement the purpose of instruction is more than informa- 
tion; its purpose is fully accomplished only when the implica- 
tion of the truth for conduct is realized in the pupil's life. When 
the pupil not only hears the truth but gives to it the assent of 
his will and modifies his conduct in accordance with it, then, and 
then only, can it be said that the purpose of instruction is accom- 
plished. This is a principle often overlooked by teachers. They 
are content with the memorization of facts about the Bible and 
of Golden Texts. But what do these avail if they are without 
influence upon conduct and character? We need to remember 
that our pupils may have an acquaintance with numberless Bible 
facts and be able to recite many verses, even entire chapters, yet 
our teaching may have been ineffective. Religious truth is in- 
tended not merely for contemplation; it is fulfilled in action. 

Principles That Condition Instruction 

We might profitably consider at very much greater length the 
purposes served by religious instruction. We have at least gone 
far enough to see that instruction has an important place in 
religious education. Our next questions are these: How may 
these purposes be realized? V/hat are the principles that govern 
effective instruction? These raise a problem so broad and so 
involved that we can barely touch upon it within the limits of 
so brief a treatment as this. It involves the whole subject of 
the learning process.^ AH that can be done is to present very 
briefly a few of the most important elementary principles that 
condition all effective religious instruction. 

Getting Hold of New Ideas. — No matter what age a teacher's 
pupils may be they are in possession of a store of religious ideas. 
Even the beginner, coming to the Sunday school for the first 
time, will be found to have previously acquired some religious 
ideas. This present stock of ideas, no matter how poor or in- 
adequate it may be, is the pupil's only clue to the meaning of a 
new idea. The new idea, when it is laid hold of by the aid of 
what is already in the mind, in turn modifies the old. These are 
the two phases of what is called "apperception," or the process 
of getting hold of a new idea. . Much of the ineffectiveness of 
Sunday-school teachers — or, for that matter, of all teachers — 



1 Some acquaintance with elementary psychology is assumed as a prerequisite of the 
present course. Students who have not made such a study should read some good 
textbook such as Human Behavior, Colvin and Bagley. 



20 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

is due to neglect of the principle of apperception. Everywhere 
teachers are prone to imagine that knowledge may be "imparted" 
by mere "telling," and that if a pupil can repeat parrot-like 
what he has been told he has given evidence of knowledge. This 
false notion results in scraps of information, miscellaneous facts 
of much or little significance, and unrelated details that never 
work out either in thought or in conduct. One teaches effectively 
only by taking into account the ideas already present when 
trying to teach new ones. Everything to be learned must be 
related to that already known. Coe thus states the practical 
consequences of this principle: "(1) Do not attempt to give the 
pupil new ideas but help him to work over his old ones. (2) 
Consider what experience that the child has already had is best 
adapted to interpret the new idea. (3) Relate the new to the old 
by comparisons and contrasts, seeing to it that the pupil defines 
for himself the new idea." 

Tlie Necessity of Repetition. — The rebellious men of Jeru- 
salem whom Isaiah vainly sought to admonish and instruct made 
the mocking reply to his message of judgment: "Whom is he 
going to teach knowledge, and upon whom is he trying to force 
'the Message,' as he calls it? . . . Are we school children, that he 
treats us with his endless platitudes and repetitions — precept 
upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, and line upon 
line?"^ Whatever may have been the effect of the prophet's 
teaching upon the bibulous men of his day, there can be no 
question but what he had laid hold of an important principle. 
All moral and religious instruction to be made effective in life 
must be "precept upon precept, line upon line." We do not mean 
by this the mere repetition of religious truths in identical form. 
Such repetitions might result in fixing the bare statement of the 
truth in the pupil's memory without in the least influencing his 
conduct or character. What is required is that the pupil shall be 
aided to understand and be convinced of the truth of the funda- 
mental principles of the gospel through their statement and re- 
statement and through instance after instance of their applica- 
tion being brought to his attention. Davidson gives two illus- 
trations in emphasizing this principle. He says: "The spiritual 
truth 'The wages of sin is death' is just so many words to young 
children and cannot possibly be understood and believed in till 
the child has had much experience in life and can reflect upon 
that experience. Part of the meaning — ^namely, the material and 



1 George Adam Smith's paraphrase of Isa. 28. 9, 10. 



GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 21 

visible consequences of sin — can be illustrated through the story 
of some sinful action and its visible material consequences. But 
even as regards this, the material side of the truth, instance 
after instance of its application must be presented to the child 
before he can be expected to be convinced of the truth. Again, 
take the precept 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The child 
cannot be expected to believe in the universal application of the 
precept until he sees or hears of numerous instances where 
people have loved their neighbor as themselves. The many in- 
stances are necessary, first, to show him the possibility of obey- 
ing the precept, and, secondly, to act as models or examples for 
his own conduct toward his neighbor."^ 

Variety in Method. — There are various methods of instruc- 
tion, or ways a teacher may proceed in the presentation of lesson 
material. The particular method or methods to be used at a 
given time will depend on the age and grade of the pupils, the 
nature of the lesson material, and the immediate aim that it is 
desired to accomplish. There is no one dest method of instruc- 
tion. No one method is suited to all ages, or to all kinds of 
lessons, or to the accomplishment of all ends. Some teachers 
succeed better in the use of a particular method than do others. 
Allowance must be made for the personal factor. No one method 
of instruction can be successfully used week after week and 
month after month. The best method used constantly becomes 
monotonous and dull. To form a habit of proceeding in the same 
way Sunday after Sunday in presenting the lesson means to fall 
Into a rut and to encourage restlessness and unresponsiveness in 
one's pupils. The efficient teacher will develop skill in the use 
of a variety of methods of instruction. 

Induction and Deduction. — Considered in general terms, 
there may be said to be two principal w^ays of procedure in the 
presentation of material: The one aims to lead the pupil to 
observe, think, question, and discover for himself. This is 
variously spoken of as the discovery method, the developmental 
method, or the inductive method. The other begins with gen- 
eral truths, precepts, principles, rules, or laws, and leads the 
pupil to apply them to individual conduct. This is the deductive 
method. 

(a) Examples of the two ways of procedure. — Two teachers 
taught a lesson on "Peter's Ministry to a Lame Man" (Acts 3. 



1 Means and Methods in the Religious Education of the Young, page 23. 



22 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

1-16). The aim of both was to strengthen in their pupils the 
desire and purpose to give such as they have in time, money, and 
skill in service to the unfortunate, the dependent, and the delin- 
quent. The first teacher began by reading the lesson and then 
proceeded as follows: "How long was this after the day of 
Pentecost? Was this a typical instance of Peter's work follow- 
ing the outpouring of Pentecost? Why did the beggar select the 
gate of the Temple as his place of solicitation? It was the hour 
of prayer, and Peter and John were going up into the Temple. 
What gifts did Peter and John not possess which very many 
in the throng of worshipers that day had in abundance? Did 
Peter or John lament their lack? What did Peter say to the 
lam.e man? What gift had they for the poor cripple? May we 
as Christians have a like gift? Peter gave something better than 
material relief; but all that he gave, he gave in personal ministry. 
The church must have a transforming spiritual power in its 
ministry to a world of need. Nothing else will take the place of 
this. This power must be given through the personal touch. 
Let us each one ask himself: 'What part am I to have in service 
to the unfortunate? What can I do this week?'" 

While this, perhaps, would not be considered a typical example 
of deduction it conforms quite largely to the deductive method 
and it fairly represents a very prevalent method of Sunday- 
school teaching. 

The second teacher asked a Christian physician who was a 
member of the church to tell in five minutes what orthopedic 
surgery is, and what wonders it is able to perform. The teacher 
prefaced the physician's statement by presenting some statistics 
on the number of children in the city, the State, and the nation 
who are crippled in the feet. After the physician had spoken, the 
teacher started a discussion by asking: "Why do doctors per- 
form such cures? Is it for money? Why do they do it in the 
many charity cases? Why are hospitals for crippled children 
established and supported? What is the spirit that has prompted 
all this?" (The Christian spirit of helpfulness.) Next the 
teacher, by a few skillful questions, got the story of the lesson 
from the class. Then he proceeded: "How did Peter come by 
this spirit of helpfulness? What made him offer the helping 
hand? Had Peter had before him an illustration of such con- 
duct? What about Peter's own mother-in-law? Peter had the 
spirit of Jesus, had he not? Did Peter have what the lame man 
asked for? Was money what the man really needed, or was his 
real need deeper? What did Peter give?" By other questions 



GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 23 

the teacher tried to lead the class to see that Peter shared his 
greatest possessions with the lame raan — his love, his faith in 
Jesus, the brotherly touch of sympathy. He then concluded: 
"What is our responsibility toward the dependent and delin- 
quent? In what ways can our responsibility be met?" 

The second teacher, it will be noted, began with the concrete 
and wholly by a process of questioning led the pupils to state 
the general principle, to furnish illustrations of the principle in 
the life of Peter, and, finally, to point out how all could apply 
the principle. 

Which of the two teachers taught more effectively? Why do 
you think so? 

(&) TJie use of induction. — Extensive use should be made of 
the inductive method in religious teaching. As a rule it is much 
more effective to lead pupils by questions and suggestions to 
discover and state general truths and principles for themselves 
than it is to hand these over readymade. The more concrete our 
teaching, the more interesting it v/ill be; the more largely it 
grows out of life and the pupil's own observation, the greater 
the hold it will have upon them. It is a mistake to think of the 
inductive lesson as stopping short with the mere discovery of 
facts and truths. When it is properly used, the pupil is led on 
to apply the truth in his own life and conduct. It is true that 
the Inductive method is limited by the inability of pupils to make 
original discoveries. This is strongly emphasized by Thorndike.^ 
Nevertheless, it is time well spent to try to arrive at universal 
truths and important principles through a patient, tactful appeal 
to the pupils' own observation, experience, and knowledge. 

(c) The use of deduction. — The fact remains that there is a 
real place for deductive teaching. There are many statements 
of truth, moral laws, and principles of conduct which find 
expression in lessons from the Bible that it is difficult, if not 
actually impossible, to develop inductively on the basis of the 
limited observation and experience of one's pupils. For example, 
take the great beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they 
shall see God," or Paul's great declaration "The wages of sin is 
death." Again, the limitation of time under which the Sunday- 
school teacher labors makes it necessary that much of the teach- 
ing must be of the deductive kind. The inductive process, if 
rigidly adhered to, requires much time. Yet again, the deductive 
lesson gives larger place to the application of the truth. 



* Education, pages 195-96. 



24 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

The Place of Telling in Instruction 

The common practice in Sunday-school teaching is for the 
teacher to do most of the talking. Observation will reveal the 
fact that in most classes the teachers talk almost continuously 
throughout the lesson period. This raises the question of the 
place that telling should have in moral and religious instruction. 
Is it wise for the teacher to do all or even the larger part of the 
talking? The form of instruction in which talking to the class 
predominates is commonly called the telling method, or the 
lecture method. 

Usually the easiest mode of procedure is for the teacher merely 
to talk to the class. Talking requires less ingenuity and less 
mental exertion than any other form of instruction. The teacher 
who is inclined to take the line of least resistance is certain to 
fall into the habit of lecturing to his class. This, of course, does- 
not justify the use of the lecture method. We are not seeking 
the easiest but rather the most efficient methods of instruction. 

Advantages of tlie Lrecture Metliod. — That there are cer- 
tain advantages in telling as a method of instruction is beyond 
dispute : 

(a) It is economical of time. This, as Thorndike suggests, is 
perhaps its chief advantage. Alone this would justify its use to 
some extent, at least, in Sunday-school teaching, since the time 
at the command of the Sunday school is so limited. 

(ft) It supplies information. Telling is practically the only 
way our pupils can be put into possession of facts of information 
and explanation essential to the understanding of many Biblical 
statements. To require the pupils to find for themselves certain- 
facts, the need for which may only be discovered in the discus- 
sion of a lesson passage, might involve a long search through 
inaccessible books of reference. 

(c) It is less em'harrassing to some. In teaching adult classes 
the lecture method relieves many men and women from the 
embarrassment that v/ould attend the use of any other method. 
Undoubtedly many adults prefer to attend a class in which they 
will not be called upon to answer questions or to express them- 
selves in any way. Early educational advantages were denied 
them or were neglected; they may have very little leisure time 
for reading or study; not infrequently their feeling on this matter 
deserves respect. Granted that they would get more out of the class 
work through active participation in discussion, if they are un- 



^ 



GENERAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 25 

willing to do so, it is better to use the lecture method than to 
lose them. 

Disadvantages of tlie Lecture Method. — Telling as a teach- 
ing method has come into disfavor among educators. The reasons 
are readily understood: 

(a) It snakes the pupil a mere hearer instead of a doer. The 
pupil takes in but does not give out. No demand is made upon 
him for expression, for self-activity, for creative effort. It does 
not develop the power to think, to formulate a problem, or to 
solve it. 

(&) The teacher has no way of checking up on his worTc, He i^ 
has no means of determining whether or not the pupil under- 
stands him; whether he is getting the ideas he means to convey 
or totally different ideas. He may be spending his time wholly in 
telling what the pupils already know. 

(c) The pupil remem'bers very little of what he hears. If /x^ 
there is no demand upon him for expression, what he is told 
seldom becomes a part of his mental life. There is "no im- 
pression without expression." 

id) Telling, used exclusively, tends to deteriorate into rtiere 
entertainment. The teacher who lectures to his class is under 
strong temptation to make his talks popular and entertaining. 
The element of actual instruction gradually diminishes. The 
teacher of a boys' or girls' class v/ho merely talks to the class 
is likely to feel impelled to talk about things that compel interest. 
Cases are not unknown in which that v>^hich finally resulted was 
mostly desultory talk, without moral or religious significance. 

Use of the Lecture Method. — When, then, should telling be 
used as a method of instruction? Consideration of the ad- 
vantages and disadvantages of the method shov/s that the danger 
is chiefly in the wrong use and in the overuse of telling in teach- 
ing. Telling should always have in view some worth-while, 
definite purpose. There is no place in the class period for mere 
aimless talk. 

(o) Usually telling slwuld he comMned loith other methods of 
instruction or followed hy another method that does what telling 
fails to do. Telling has its place in instruction but it should 
not be used exclusively. 

(J)) Telling may he used as a means of explanation and of u 
furnishing fact information, illustration, and other important 
supplemental material. Even illustration by means of objects, 
pictures, and diagrams requires to be accompanied by consider- 



26 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

able explanation. Frequently it happens that the teacher's illus- 
trations, examples from life, and informal discussion do more 
than anything else to inspire and stimulate the moral and 
spiritual ideals of the pupils.^ 

(c) TTie lecture metJiod should have a recognized place in the 
religious inMruction of adults. An able Bible teacher who is at 
the same time a resourceful and gifted speaker may attract to 
the Sunday school many adults, especially men, who could not 
be reached by any other means. Every Sunday school might well 
have at least one lecture class. In other classes the lecture 
method might well be used occasionally, or lecture courses on 
special subjects offered at intervals. 

Constructive Task 

1. Observe the teaching of a particular lesson by some good 
teacher. As you observe, have in mind these questions: What 
purpose seems to be uppermost in the teacher's mind? Which' 
of the principles set forth in the lesson statement are in evi- 
dence? Afterward write out answers to these questions. 

2, Considering further this same lesson: How would you de- 
scribe the method used by the teacher? Was the method used 
adapted to the grade of the pupils? 

Refeeences foe Supplementaby Reading 
In the library 

1. The technique of instruction: Classroom Method and Man- 
agement, Betts, Chapter IX. 

2. The lecture method of instruction: The Educative Process, 
Bagley, pages 270-75. 



1 Compare statement on lecturing in How to Teach, Strayer and Norsworth , pages 
207-11. 



CHAPTER III 
TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: THE STORY 

OisTE of the notable characters of the fifteenth century was 
Jean de Gerson. He was a great educator. As chancellor of the 
University of Paris he held the foremost educational position 
of his day. He was a religious statesman; in the great Council 
of Constance none exercised greater influence than he. His 
highest distinction, however, was that he was a friend of chil- 
dren and, out of his busy life, gave time to the children of the 
poor, teaching them of their heavenly Father's love and care. 
In recognition of this the people of the time bestowed upon him 
the title "Doctor of Little Children." Of titles to be coveted there 
is none more highly honorable than this. It is one that might 
well be bestowed upon the story-teller — the man or woman who 
loves stories, appreciates their value, knows where good stories 
are to be found and how to tell them well. 

In the preceding chapter the place of telling in religious in- 
struction was briefly considered. We were then thinking more 
especially of young people and adults than of little children. 
The lecture as an example of the "telling" method was chiefly 
discussed. The story is another example of this method and it 
now claims our attention. 

The Story in Religious Instruction 

The Importance of the Story. — "We now recognize in story- 
telling," says St. John, "the earliest, the simplest, and, so far as 
moral influence is concerned, the most universally effective means 
of impressing upon a new generation the lessons that have been 
learned by those who have gone before."^ That is to say, of all 
means of moral and religious teaching the story is the most 
important. Why does so great importance attach to the story? 
Think of your own experience in hearing stories and, if you have 
used stories in teaching, think also of your experience in telling 
them and set down some reasons why the story is entitled to be 
considered so important a means of teaching. In brief, the 



1 Stories and Story-TeUing, page vii. 

27 



28 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

importance of the story may be said to arise from three con- 
siderations: 

(a) The story is the most fascinating form of truth to the 
child. The story is important because of the universal and in- 
tense joy children have in hearing stories. It is perfectly natural 
for children to want to hear stories. They hunger for them. 
They live and move in a world of stories. To compel them to do 
without stories is to restrict them, limit them, and deprive them 
of a life element. The surest and quickest v/ay to win the con- 
fidence and love of our pupils is to tell them stories. 

(&) The story is the simplest form of teaching. In the child- 
hood of the race, long before there were Sunday schools — or any 
kind of schools, for that matter — stories were told by fathers to 
their children, by the tribal chiefs to their tribesmen, and by the 
sages, or wise men, to those whom they taught. The innumer- 
able legends, myths, folk tales, and fables that form so consider- 
able a part of our literature bear witness to the power and value 
of the story as the most simple and enduring form of teaching. 
We may teach effectively by the story when all other m.eans 
fail. Nils, the stupid, could not answer a single one of the 
schoolmaster's questions on the geography lesson; but v/hen the 
teacher had the happy inspiration of making over the lesson into, 
a story, long afterward he remembered every word. 

(c) The story is the most adaptable form of teaching. It lends 
itself readily to almost any content. "The story is not history, 
but there may be historic stories; the story is not science, but 
there may be scientific stories; the story is not ethics, but there 
may be moral stories."^ 

The Values of the Story. — The considerations just urged are 
to the point in thinking of the values of the story. What addi- 
tional values may be suggested? Som.e of the most significant 
are stated by Froebel: "Ear and heart open to the genuine story- 
teller, as the blossoms open to the sun of spring and to the 
vernal rain. Mind breathes mind; power feels power and absorbs 
it, as it were. The telling of a story refreshes the mind as a 
bath refreshes the body; it gives exercise to the intellect and its 
powers; it tests the judgment and the feelings."^ A few of the 
values suggested in this quotation and some others may well be 
considered somewhat more in detail: 

(a) The. story makes a strong appeal to interest. The most 



^ Story-Telling, Questioning, and Studying, Home, page 36. 
2 The Education of Man, page 307. 



TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: THE STORY 29 

listless and disinterested pupil pricks up his ears the moment a 
story is announced. This is of the utmost significance, for in- 
terest is at the basis of all learning. What the pupil is interested 
in he attends to; what receives his attention is likely to be 
remembered; what he remembers influences his conduct and de- 
termines his character. 

(b) The story nurtures the emotions and creates desiralle 
attitudes of mind. Whatever nurtures desirable emotions en- 
riches the pupils' lives. The story does this. First of all, it 
gives joy and the feeling of satisfaction. It also awakens sym- 
pathy. How many times have we seen tears fill the eyes of a 
child at that point of a simple story when the subject — be it bird, 
animal, or person — falls into danger or is called upon to suffer 
pain or misfortune! The story creates desire. The boy or the 
girl in the story is pictured as ardently desiring some good; a 
like desire springs into life in the heart of the one who hears 
the story. If it is well chosen for the purposes of moral and 
religious teaching the story creates various healthful, desirable 
attitudes of mind toward what is true and pure and right and 
good. 

When the teacher for any reason considers it important to 
use some form of direct instruction, perhaps a moral precept or 
injunction, one of the quickest and most effective ways of assur- 
ing a receptive mood and favorable response is a suitable story. 
The experience of lawyers in trying cases, of politicians in appeal- 
ing to the people for support, and of ministers in preaching the 
gospel affords abundant evidence of this. 

(a) The story is an effective means of training in moral con- 
duct. As opportunity offers, the attitudes of mind created by 
the story are expressed in action. The beginners' or primary 
teacher who retells a story is often gratified by the simple testi- 
mony of the pupil indicating that, without any urging on her 
part, some kindly, helpful deed has been done, prom.pted by the 
example the story pictured when it was first told. The signifi- 
cance of this can hardly be overestimated. Our purpose, we 
have said repeatedly, is the development and training of our 
pupils in Christian character and service. If by means of stories 
we place Before them situations in which right moral and 
religious conduct is pictured we are using the surest means of 
inducing like conduct on their part, the most certain means of 
forming those habits which are the foundations of Christian 
character. 

Even when suitable opportunity of expression is not afforded, 



30 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

the conduct that the story pictures is relived in thought, and 
thereby standards and ideals are formed which will influence 
future conduct. One of the peculiar elements of strength in the 
story as a means of moral teaching is its way of presenting 
situations that involve a choice of right or wrong on the part of 
the actor. Instinctively the child identifies himself with the 
actor in the story. In a more or less real sense he shares in the 
reward or realizes the penalty. Thus, these rewards and penal- 
ties become almost as Influential in forming his standards and 
ideals as if he had experienced them in actual life. Moreover, 
the story has an additional value in this connection. "The 
sanctions of morality and religion, the rewards and penalties, 
the mainsprings of conduct, must be apparent and more or less 
immediate to the child if the moral and religious lesson is to be 
effective. In actual life these are not always obvious and often 
seem far removed in point of time; whereas in the story punish- 
ment is swift, and reward immediate, so that the child soon 
perceives what the results of good and bad conduct are."^ 

Kinds of Stories. — The simplest classification of stories for 
use in moral and religious teaching is that most commonly 
given — namely, idealistic stories and realistic stories. 

Idealistic stories include fairy stories, folk tales, myths, 
legends, fables, and allegories. Of these the first three are 
suitable for use with pupils of the elementary grades, the last 
four more especially with older boys and girls and with adults. 
Inexperienced teachers sometimes question whether idealistic 
stories are suitable for use in moral and religious instruction 
since they are not literally true to fact. The things told in fairy 
tales, they say, never really happen. But the things that happen 
in fairy stories are real to little children — as real as anything in 
everyday life. Moreover, they are profoundly true in this: that 
good conduct brings the reward of satisfaction and happiness,, 
while wrongdoing receives sure and speedy punishment. It is of 
interest to note that "history" and "story" have the same root: 
history is the record of actual events in their setting of time, 
place, and cause; the story relates that which might have hap- 
pened "once upon a time." History records facts; the story may 
relate no fact but is thereby none the less truthful. When the 
child reaches the age at which he distinguishes between fact 
and fiction, the realistic story properly takes the place of the 
idealistic. The hunger of the little child's mind for the ideal- 



1 Religious Training in the School and Home, Sneath, Hodges, and Tweedy, page 60. 



TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: THE STORY 31 

istlc is not less a healthy appetite than that of the older child 
for the narrative of fact; both are needs that we should supply. 

Tlie Cliaracteristics of a Good Story. — What makes a good 
story? Is there any simple criterion by which we may judge the 
quality of a story? The child seems to do this instinctively, 
although even little children have some variety of taste as to 
stories. Older persons are obliged sometimes to relearn through 
the laborious processes of study what the child possesses by 
nature. If we compare the statements of several of the writers 
who have treated this subject with some thoroughness we find 
substantial agreement. Bryant, in listing the characteristics to 
be looked for, names action in close sequence; familiar images 
tinged with mystery; some degree of repetition. St. John names 
action, suggestiveness, unity, plot, narrative, and richness of 
material. "A good story," says Home, "is very human, very con- 
crete, very intelligible, and universal in appeal." Other writers 
give similar lists, varying slightly. To put the matter briefly 
we may feel assured that if a story possesses action, is concrete 
and suggestive, presents ideas and imagery familiar to pupils of 
the age for which it is to be chosen, and is true to life, it will be 
found to meet the essential tests of a good story. 

The Art of Story-Telling 

Story-telling is an art, and the teacher can well afford to make 
a special study of it. We can give here only a few brief hints 
for general guidance: 

Preparation for Telling tlie Story. — Preparation may 
properly begin with discrimination in the choice of the story to 
be told. 

(a) The purpose of the story. — One may well consider what 
it is most desirable to teach. What do my pupils need to be 
taught at this particular time? Can I find a story that will serve 
this purpose? If the teacher has a particular purpose in view, 
as it is important that he should have, not just any story will 
do; careful selection is necessary. 

(6) Knowing the story. — To tell a story well one must be 
thoroughly familiar with it. First, one must get the setting of 
the story clearly in mind. Secondly, one must analyze the story. 
Every story may be said to have a beginning, a development, a 
climax, and an end. St. John summarizes the parts of a good 
story as follows: The story must have a beginning that rouses 
interest, a succession of events that is orderly and complete, a 



82 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

climax that forms the story's point, and an end that leaves the 
mind at rest. Read the story critically to see how it is made up. 
Break it up into its component parts. Get the succession of 
events clearly in mind. Determine the climax of the story and 
plan to make it the climax of your telling. When this is accom- 
plished, learn the story. This will usually require that it be 
reread several times. Committing to memory every word of the 
story is seldom necessary. Absolute memorization is likely to 
detract from spontaneity; but important words, vital parts of 
conversations, and phrases or sentences that recur as repetitions 
should be memorized and given exactly. 

(c) Appreciation of the story. — It is not enough to know the 
story; it must be felt. Appreciation and feeling can be culti- 
vated when they are lacking. It will help to think oneself into 
the place of the child; to recall the emotions of childhood. To 
the extent that one succeeds in relating himself to the story as 
the child is related, appreciation and feeling will be developed. 
Some writers have the same thing in mind when they emphasize 
the importance of living the story. The use of imagination will 
enable the story-teller to relate himself to the lessons; and, 
becoming a part of the story, he can make it live in the thought 
and imagination of the hearers. 

How to Tell the Story Effectively. — The first thing to be 
said is: Be sure you tell it. Often it will be easier to read the 
story than to tell it. Perhaps time for adequate preparation has 
not been taken, and the question will arise, May I not read the 
story instead of telling it? Reading a story is not story-telling 
nor is it in any sense a substitute for story-telling. Much every 
way is lost if the story is read and not told. 

(a) Be natural. — ^Avoid affectation both in manner and voice. 
If you pose you detract from attention given to the story and 
center it upon yourself. Do not strive after effect. Do not be 
absolutely precise. Avoid everything artificial. 

(h) Be direct. — Do not interject comments or explanations of 
your own. Use direct discourse. Permit the actors in the story, 
whether persons, animals, or plants, to speak for themselves. 

(c) Supply action. — ^The narrative must move forward without 
unnecessary delay. To hurry will spoil the effect of the story, 
but neither will it do to be too deliberate. Haste robs the story 
of its impressiveness; retarded movement causes impatience. 
Give attention to the importance of gestures and facial expres- 
sion. Imitations of actions are not in place, but these sometimes 



TYPES OP INSTRUCTION: THE STORY 33 

may be suggested by simple gestures or movements. It is not 
well to be too dramatic. 

id) Do not moralize. — Let the story supply its own moral. If 
the story is really suited to teach the lesson you wish to enforce, 
you may confidently expect that it will make its own application. 
To append a moral to a good story is to spoil its effect. Pupils 
who will accept the implicit moral lesson of a good story will 
often openly resent the tacking on of an application. 

(e) Practice. — There is only one way to learn how to tell 
stories with genuine effectiveness, and that is to practice, and 
continue to practice. Some may have a natural gift that will 
enable them to become unusually skillful in the art; there is 
none who may not learn by practice to tell stories effectively. 
No one need want for an audience. Wherever two or three 
children are gathered together, there you have it. "If one have 
neither natural adaptation, nor experience, still I say, tell the 
stories; tell the stories; a thousand times, tell the stories!" 

Constructive Task 

1. Take some story that you love and study it for its qualities. 
What makes it a good story? What qualities does it possess in 
common with other effective stories familiar to you? 

2. Listen to the telling of the lesson story in one or more 
classes of the Sunday school. Compare the methods observed 
with the suggestions under "How to Tell the Story Effectively." 
What did you miss? What added suggestions did you get? 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In "Tlie Worker and Work" series 

1. The purpose in story-telling: The Beginners' Worker and 
Work, Chapter XV. 

2. The technique of story-telling: The Primary Worker and 
Work, Chapter XI. 

3. The integral parts of a story: The Junior Worker and Work, 
pages 82-4. 

In the library 

1. The story interests of childhood and of adolescence: Stories 
and Story-Telling, St. John, Chapters VIII-X. 

2. The stories of the Bible: Educating dy Story-Telling, Cather, 
Chapter XII. 

3. The place of story-telling in religious education: The Use 
of Stories in Religious Education, Eggleston, Chapter I. 



CHAPTER IV 

TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: QUESTIONING AND THE DIS- 
CUSSION METHOD 

We have already noted the fact that there are various ways a 
teacher may proceed in the presentation of lesson material. We 
have considered that general type of instruction in which telling 
by the teacher predominates. Included under this, as we have 
seen, are the lecture method and the story method. We have, 
further, directed attention to the importance of expression on the 
part of the pupil. "No impression without expression" is the 
familiar statement of this principle. The lecture method, as we 
have noted, is seriously deficient in that it fails to provide for 
pupil expression. The means most commonly used in getting 
expression is the question, and one of the most important of the 
types of instruction in which questioning plays a leading part 
is the discussion method. 

Questioning 

Next to the ability to tell stories well the Sunday-school 
teacher needs to know how to ask questions. Joshua G. Fitch, 
speaking of Sunday-school teaching, says, "The success and 
efficiency of our teaching depends more on the skill and judg- 
m.ent with which we put questions than any other single cir- 
cumstance."^ 

The Use of Questions in Teacliing. — ^Why is the question so 
important a factor in teaching? What are some of its principal 
uses? 

(a) The question is a means of getting information. In daily 
life this is the common use of the question. When we desire 
information that we do not possess we ask for it. The same use 
may be made of the question in school work. 

It is desirable to use informational questions, because they 
inspire interest in pupils. In discussing this type of questions 
Charters says that in his opinion "there is probably nothing 
more inspiring to pupils than to feel that they can make an 



1 The Art of Questioning, page 2. 

34 



QUESTIONING AND THE DISCUSSION METHOD 35 

original contribution." No matter how wise or well trained the 
teacher may be he is not all-wise. A pupil of very limited attain- 
ments may possess some item of important information which 
the teacher has overlooked. The recitation is a cooperative 
enterprise and it is in every way helpful for the pupil to be 
brought to realize that he is expected to make some contribution. 
The feeling of some teachers that asking the pupil for informa- 
tion is an unworthy confession of ignorance usually springs from 
false pride. 

The desirable eifect of this type of question may be obtained, 
as Charters points out, by laying stress upon personal opinion. 
"Why did John the Baptist, in prison, send his disciples to 
ask Jesus whether he was the Christ?" is a question likely to 
be answered by the pupil's quoting a statement of his textbook. 
Slightly changed in form, the question may be made to carry a 
stronger appeal of interest: "What do you think is the reason 
John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was 
the Christ?" "This stressing of individual opinion is very 
valuable wherever there is any possibility of difference of 
opinion. ... It is so important that teachers should cultivate 
it and use it whenever possible." ^ 

The questions that pupils ask are almost wholly of the infor- 
mational type. Pupils should be encouraged to ask questions. 
They are an indication of interest, and asking a question in itself 
stimulates increased interest. 

(6) The question is a means of testing knowledge. By asking 
questions the teacher is able to determine whether the pupil 
knows and what he knows. 

There are two very important reasons why the test for 
knowledge should be used: (1) The test for knowledge tends to 
hold the pupil to his task. Colvin declares that requiring pupils 
to reveal, from time to time, the extent of their achievement in 
learning is "a compelling motive among all classes of learners." 
(2) The test for knowledge furnishes the teacher with the infor- 
mation concerning the pupils' progress which is necessary to 
intelligent instruction. Without it the teacher is in the dark. 
He may be spending time on what is already perfectly familiar 
and be unaware of it. 

Testing questions that call for trivial and obscure facts have 
no real place in religious instruction and should not be used. 
The knowledge called for should have some direct or indirect 
moral or religious significance. The number of wordg in the 

^ Methods of Teaching, page 29$. 



l/ 



36 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

longest verse in the Bible or the exact width of the Jordan river 
at its widest point or the dimensions of Noah's ark may be 
curious facts possessing a certain kind of interest to some minds 
but they have absolutely no significance for character or conduct. 

(c) The question is an important means of developing knowl- 
edge. Socrates said that he asked questions in order "to bring 
thought to birth." De Garmo makes this significant statement: 
"The question is the guide to clear and vivid ideas, the quick 
spur to imagination, the stimulus to thought, the incentive to 
action." Both of these statements emphasize the value of the 
question in stirring the mind to activity. Questions stimulate 
mental activity; they arouse the mind to lay hold of the truth, 
to assimilate it, and to give it expression. We have repeatedly 
emphasized the necessity of self-activity on the pupil's part. In 
view of this the fundamental importance of the question is 
evident. 

The question not only leads the pupil to think: it may fee used 
to lead the pupil in his thinking to new and more significant 
conclusions. The developing question carries a hint or sugges- 
tion of something further on. It may also contain a suggestion 
of the direction the mind is to take in its forward movement or 
call attention to an error in its present position and give a clue 
to the right idea. Did Jesus use this form of question? Consider 
the question he asked at the conclusion of the parable of the 
vineyard (Mark 12. 10, 11) or that asked at the end of the 
parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 36). 

Some teachers apparently regard the question solely as a 
means of testing knowledge. Their questions appeal only to the 
pupils' memories. This is a weakness in teaching. We have 
more to do in religious instruction than merely to lodge facts 
securely in memory. Questioning should not be allowed to be- 
come a means of suggesting to our pupils that our interest is 
merely in seeing that they remember what they read or what we 
tell them. 

Characteristics of Good Questions. — Is it possible to sug- 
gest some general characteristics of effective questions? 

(a) Good questions are simple, clear, and direct. The simpler 
the language, the better. Technical words should be avoided as 
much as possible. The question should be framed so as to admit 
of only one correct answer. Questions are sometimes puzzling 
because they may be answered in any one of numerous ways. 
Ijong, involved questions are unnecessar7 and are always con.- 



QUESTIONING AND THE DISCUSSION METHOD 37 

fusing. Teachers who frame long questions, complicated by 
parenthetical explanations, bristling with technical words as a 
means of exhibiting learning, exhibit instead their lack of skill. 
(6) Good questions are definite, pertinent, and important. 
They deal with principal issues, ignore trivialities, and go 
straight to the heart of things. A pupil does not like to be trifled 
with nor required to relate unimportant details. An indefinite 
question is likely to cause confusion of thought and to waste the 
time both of teacher and pupil. 

(c) Good questions demand effort of the pupil. Says Fitch: 
"Every question ought to require an effort to answer it; it may 
be an effort of memory, or an effort of imagination, or an effort 
of judgment, or an effort of perception; it may be a considerable 
effort or it may be a slight one: but it must be an effort; and a 
question which challenges no mental exertion whatever or does 
not make the learner think is worth nothing."^ 

For the most part questions requiring only a "yes" or "no" 
answer are of little value. The way in which the question is 
put, the inflection of the voice, usually suggests the answer. The 
pupil in answ^ering follows this or some other cue given by the 
teacher and is moved to no mental exertion. 

Some questions are ineffective because they virtually contain 
or at least suggest their own answer; for example, "What class 
of people other than the scribes did Jesus condemn?" The 
answer expected, "The Pharisees," is so frequently associated in 
the Gospels with "the scribes" that the one term suggests the 
other. 

An answer that is a guess should never be accepted. The pupil 
should be required to explain his answer — to tell why he holds 
the opinion expressed. 

Questions should be used to aid expression. The teacher should 
not be impatient with a pupil who is slow in answering. If a 
pupil does not answer readily but is evidently considering how 
to answer he should be given time. If the answer does not come, 
a slightly different question that carries a suggestion may be 
asked. The mental processes of some pupils are slower than 
those of others; their power of expression needs cultivation. 

Not infrequently ineffective teaching is due to unnecessary 
mental sluggishness, even laziness, of teacher or pupils or of 
both. Teacher and pupils are content to deal in words, failing 
to go back of the words to discover and ponder the ideas that 
the words should express. Some of the sayings of Jesus are so 



1 The Art of Questioning, page 43, 



J 



38 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

simple in statement and so familiar that they are easily repeated 
and are allowed to pass without an examination into their pro- 
found meanings. It is easy for a pupil to repeat the words "I 
am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me and I 
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye 
can do nothing"; but what profound and far-reaching meanings 
are wrapped up in this statement! What vital, life-changing 
ideas lie back of the simple words! For a pupil merely to repeat 
the words, without grasping the idea, is tragic. Questions skill- 
fully used are the means by which the alert, eflicient teacher 
may bring the truth to bear upon the pupils' lives. 

Method in Questioning. — There are two general principles 
governing method in questioning which are of special import- 
ance. 

(a) Questions should he original. A real question is expres- 
sive of the personality of the teacher. This necessitates the use 
of original questions. The habit of reading readymade questions 
from a lesson help cannot be too strongly condemned. This 
method of questioning cannot be anything other than formal, 
stilted, dry, and mechanical. Instead of awakening interest such 
questioning deadens whatever interest may have existed. The 
influence of the teacher's personality is almost lost, being hidden 
behind the lesson leaf. The whole situation is dull and lifeless — 
unless, perhaps, some pupil who longs to see something doing in- 
troduces some item of mischief just to relieve the intolerable 
monotony. 

In preparing the lesson it is well for the teacher to write a 
list of questions as a part of the lesson plan. It is better for 
these not to be taken to the session at all. If they are taken, let 
it be with the thought of falling back upon them only in the 
event of a crisis wherein the springs of spontaneous thought 
entirely fail. Still better, let the teacher prepare thoroughly, 
then go before the class with absolutely nothing in hand, throw- 
ing himself upon his own resources. The result may be some- 
what disconcerting at first, but persistence in the plan is certain 
to result in the development of real teaching power. 

(6) Questioning should de so conducted as to enlist the whole 
class. Some simple suggestions will point the way: 

Ask the question lefore naming the pupil. Let each member 
of the class feel that he may be called upon for the answer. 
Always name some one particular pupil to reply to the ques- 
tion. Insist upon the pupils' answering only when called upon. 



QUESTIONING AND THE DISCUSSION METHOD 39 

Expect the attention of all. Frequently base a question directly 
upon a pupil's answer, calling upon a second pupil to answer 
this question. This will aid in training the class to give atten- 
tion to the entire discussion. Give no pupil in the class reason 
to think that you do not expect his constant attention. AsTc a 
question once only. If the pupil called upon fails to understand 
through inattention, call upon another. Bo not form the haMt 
of repeating the pupiVs answer after him. It tends to make the 
class inattentive. 

Question in various ways. Use variety. Your practice in |_^ 
questioning should not have so much sameness that the pupils 
have a feeling that they know at any moment who is to be called 
upon next. Do not question pupils in turn about the class circle 
or in alphabetical order. Sometimes call upon the same pupil 
several times in quick succession. Do not confine your questions 
to a few of the brightest pupils but be impartial. 

The Discussion Method 

Discussion has a very important part in the teaching process. 
This, we trust, has been made perfectly clear. There is com- 
paratively little effective teaching without free cooperation 
between teacher and pupils. 

There is a type of instruction in which the distinctive feature 
is extempore questioning and discussion. This method we will 
now proceed to consider. The student is likely to be confused at 
this point because of the fact that various terms are used in the 
textbooks. Some writers speak of the "questioning method" or 
the "question-and-answer method"; others refer to the "conver- 
sation method"; or to the "development method"; while still 
others use the term "discussion method." While there are more 
or less marked variations, in all of these cases the writers have 
the same general type of instruction in mind. All things con- 
sidered, the term "discussion method" seems to me to be pref- 
erable. 

Essential Characteristics of tlie Method. — How may the 

discussion method be best described? What are its essential 
characteristics? 

{a) It is a process of development. Instead of testing con- 
sciously acquired knowledge of an assigned lesson the teacher 
leads the pupils to think. By questioning and free conversation 
he leads them to perceive the truth the lesson teaches or to 
develop a group judgment. The effort is to educe, or draw out 



1/ 



40 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

and develop, the truth. Debate and anything savoring of per- 
sonal argument are understood to be out of order. The effort 
is by means of inquiry, the interchange of opinion, and the 
stimulation of thought by the free play of conversation to 
develop a judgment as to what is the truth. 

(&) The teacher is the group leader. The teacher does not 
lecture; he guides the discussion. He expresses no dogmatic 
opinions; he helps the others to formulate a common judgment. 
He has no final solution of his own which he considers it his duty 
to impose upon others; he is the agent through whose aid the 
others arrive at a common goal. 

(c) This method stays close to life. Conduct in accord with 
the principles of Jesus is the goal of Christian teaching. If a' 
teacher lectures upon a Bible topic, there is a tendency for him 
to be dominated by the informational aim; and, again, for him 
to become academic. This is one reason why so many teachers 
are dubbed "dry^' and "uninteresting." If the discussion method 
is used, the topic stated in terms of a live problem, and the dis- 
cussion participated in by all, the danger of getting away from 
everyday life is reduced to the minimum. 

The "How** of the Method. — A few suggestions concerning 
technique are desirable. 

(a) Selecting a topic or protlem. In place of an assignment 
by the teacher the class should agree in advance upon a topic or 
problem for discussion. The form in which the problem is to 
be stated should itself be made a matter of discussion by the 
group. Let us cite a particular case. The lesson outline that is 
being followed by an adult class suggests the following Scripture 
passages, 2 Sam. 6. 1, 2, 17, 18; Matt. 6. 33, under the topic "Mak- 
ing Religion Central." The teacher calls attention to the fact that 
the purpose of David in moving the ark was to centralize worship 
in Jerusalem. "What present problem," he asks, "does this 
suggest to us?" Various answers are given. One member sug- 
gests this: "How can we as a class help to make religion more 
nearly central in the thought and life of our community?" This 
statement is accepted by all. When agreement has been reached, 
the teacher should make suggestions for reading and study. 

(6) The solution of the problem. — At the beginning of the 
class session the problem should be stated in the form previously 
agreed upon. The teacher may then ask some member to state 
his opinion upon some phase of the problem. Thus the discus- 
sion in which it is understood all are to participate is started. 



QUESTIONING AND THE DISCUSSION METHOD 41 

For example, let us say that a boys' class has agreed to discuss 
the question "How may personal prejudice be best overcome?" 
The teacher asks some member to state the question. When it 
has been stated, he continues, "What in your opinion is the prin- 
cipal root of prejudice?" This question is likely to call out an 
opinion with which all will not agree. If another calls it into 
question or states a different opinion, the discussion is well 
started. From this point on it is simply the leader's task to 
guide the discussion. "He sees to it that the group becomes 
clearly conscious of what it is they are discussing; he notes 
carefully all the main views of the members contributed toward 
the solution, preferably upon a blackboard; he calls for a sum- 
mary of these views as a solution or, failing to get it satis- 
factorily, he summarizes the discussion himself; and, finally, he 
secures the group reaction or application."^ 

Advantages of tlie Method. — Certain elements of strength 
of the discussion method have already been indicated. It is 
necessary only to restate them briefly. 

(a) The discussion method insures activity on the part of 
loth teacher and pupil. There is continual movement. The 
constant interchange of opinion or the exchange of question and 
answer holds the attention; creative expression on the part of 
the pupils is involved. 

(1)) The judgment finally expressed is the pupil's own. The 
teacher will not stop short of getting a statement showing that 
the members of the class have a grasp of the truth and are able 
to formulate it intelligently. Thus the truth is a personal pos- 
session of each member of the group; it has become his through 
his own creative self-activity; and conditions are most favorable 
for his retaining it. 

(c) It is the most democratic of all methods of teaching. The 
teacher is not an autocrat, who declares the truth in the form 
of edicts; he is the leader of a group of equals. Each member 
feels a sense of personal responsibility for arriving at the true 
solution of the problem in hand. The teaching method con- 
tributes directly toward making the class a school for social 
living. 

It is not to be thought that the discussion method makes slight 
demands upon the teacher. It requires a broad general knowl- 
edge, initiative and discrimination, the ability to think quickly 



1 "The Discussion Method in Bible Teaching," by Herman Harrell Horije in The 
Sunday School Journal, May, 1920, page 272, 



42 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

and accurately, and self-mastery. A teacher needs these qualifi- 
cations in order to make the most of this method. A study of 
the hints of Jesus' teaching methods contained in the Gospels 
will show that he used this method and that he was exceedingly 
skillful in the use of it. 

Disadvantages of the Method. — What are the weaknesses or 
disadvantages of this method? 

(a) In itself the discussion method lays no requirement of 
study upon the pupils; hence, lesson preparation is likely to 6e 
sUgMed. The oflacers and teachers of a great many Sunday 
schools have been exceedingly lax in this matter. Low ideals 
have prevailed, and as a consequence there is a general tendency 
to neglect lesson study. No Sunday school can do thoroughly 
creditable work without home study on the part of the pupils, 
and any method that tends to encourage the idea that it is un- 
necessary deserves to be called into question. This tendency 
is not a necessary accompaniment of the discussion method: the 
teacher can guard against it; but the point is that the method in 
itself makes no requirement of previous preparation. 

(6) Unless care and skill are used, the discussion is likely to 
wander, to follow tangents far afield, and even to degenerate into 
superficial, pointless, and profitless talk. If the pupils have a 
ready fund of ideas and are free in expressing them, the teacher 
must constantly be on his guard lest the discussion take a 
direction that is interesting but not in the direction of the solu- 
tion of the problem. 

Not infrequently in adult classes there are found men or 
wom.en who are fond of arguing. As one has said, "The biggest 
fools do all the talking." The fellow who has a hobby has too 
much chance to ride it. There is danger of becoming sidetracked 
by controversy over unimportant matters. Argument over non- 
essential points and doctrinal controversy are unprofitable; if 
either is prolonged it becomes positively harmful. 

(c) There is constant tendency for the teacher to dominate 
the discussion. Continual self-restraint is required. The dis- 
cussion may lag at certain points, and the temptation comes to 
the leader to do all the talking. Unless he is constantly on 
guard, the discussion becomes a lecture. 

Constructive Task 
1, Observe the teaching of some good teachei*. Take notes on: 



QUESTIONING AND THE DISCUSSION METHOD 43 

(a) kinds of questions asked; (6) the teacher's methods of 
questioning. 

2. Consider further this same lesson: Give examples of par- 
ticularly effective questions. Why were they effective? 

3. With a particular class in mind prepare a full list of orig- 
inal questions on the next Sunday's lesson of this class. 

4. Observe the teaching of another lesson, if opportunity is 
afforded, where the discussion method is used. Write your im- 
pressions of the method as observed in this particular case. 

Referejntces fok Supplementary Reading 
In ''The Worker and Work'' series 

1. The Teacher's Use of Questions: The Senior Worker and 
Work, Chapter VIII. 

In the library 

1. A general discussion of questioning: The Art of Question- 
ing, Fitch. 

2. The technique of questioning: Methods of Teaching in High 
Schools, Parker, Chapter XX. 

3. Teaching by questioning (the Socratic method) : Primer 
on Teaching, Adams, Chapter VII. 



CHAPTER V 

TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, 
AND EXAMINATIONS 

DwiGHT L. Moody at eighteen was a member of a Sunday- 
school class in Boston taught by Edward Kimball. His knowl- 
edge of the Bible and of Christian teachings was extremely 
limited, and his ability to express himself still more so. Con- 
cerning him Mr. Kimball later wrote: "I can truly say that I 
have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker 
when they came into my Sunday-school class, or one who seemed 
more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear decided views 
of gospel truth, still less to fill any sphere of extended public 
usefulness," Mr. Kimball showed his wisdom as a teacher in 
investing much time and thought in devising ways of stimulating 
his backward pupil to think on religious subjects and to study 
his lesson, and in kindly and patiently leading him to give ex- 
pression to his thoughts and to the results of his study. Un- 
doubtedly not a little of the remarkable skill shown by Moody 
in later years in leading men and women into a living faith in 
Jesus Christ was due to the persistent tactful effort of a Sunday- 
school teacher to encourage expression on the part of an un- 
promising pupil. 

The RECiTATioisr 

We have considered that form of instruction in which telling 
by the teacher predominates. We have also considered the dis- 
cussion method, in which the teacher's effort is directed in con- 
siderable part to getting expression from the pupil. Another 
method, more sharply in contrast with telling, in which the pre- 
sentation by the pupils of the results of their study, investiga- 
tion, and thought is the predominating factor, is that commonly 
known as the recitation. 

We may define the recitation as that form of teaching exercise 
in which the teacher tests the knowledge of the pupils upon the 
tasis of a previously assigned lesson. In intermediate and senior 
grades the recitation is more generally used than any other form 
of instruction. At its best it is one of the most valuable forms 
of teaching exercise; at its worst it becomes a dull, uninterest- 

44 



THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, EXAMINATIONS 45 

ing, wooden process, almost without either religious or educa- 
tional value. 

Requirements of the Method. — There are three require- 
ments involved in the successful use of this method: (a) assign- 
ment of the lesson; (6) study of the lesson hy the pupils; (c) 
presentation dy the pupils, under the teacher's guidance, of the 
results of their study. 

(a) Assignment of the lesson. — Success in this type of teach- 
ing depends very largely on the definiteness with which the prol)- 
lems the pupils are expected to solve are placed "before them} 
or on the clearness with which the aim of the work they are 
expected to do is stated. Failure in Sunday-school teaching 
often roots right here. Teachers frequently are content to make 
a perfunctory general statement such as "Now, be sure to study 
next Sunday's lesson," or "See who can have the best lesson next 
week"; and the pupils are left entirely in the dark as to what 
is expected of them. Teachers mistakenly assume that pupils 
have the same insight into the significance of the lesson, the 
same understanding of the importance of study, and the same 
knowledge of how to proceed in mastering a lesson, as they them- 
selves possess. When the pupils return on the following Sunday 
uninterested and with lessons unprepared they are roundly con- 
demned, whereas the teacher is at least as much at fault as the 
pupils. 

It is unfortunate for any teacher to permit the extent of help 
provided on the lesson to become a temptation to neglect original 
thought and effort in the preparation and assignment of the 
lesson. No amount of ready-made helps can excuse negligence 
or superficial study on the teacher's part. No matter how much 
is provided for the pupils' use, a great deal will depend on the 
teacher's initiative and originality in awakening interest, stimu- 
lating investigation of special topics, stating the lesson in terms 
of problems that appeal to the interests of his particular class, 
and suggesting additional sources of special information upon 
lesson topics. 

It is of course necessary for the teacher to study the lesson 
a week in advance. Failure actually to know the lesson makes 
proper assignment impossible. As the lesson is studied, the in- 
terests of various members of the class should be kept in mind, 
and points of contact decided upon. 

Teachers who do not have an appreciation of the importance of 



^See page 80, The Use of Problems in Getting Voluntary Attention. 



46 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

lesson assignment are likely to plead lack of time as an excuse 
for failure properly to assign the lesson. Lack of time is not an 
excuse. The brevity of the recitation period in Sunday-school 
work is all the more reason for attention to what is absolutely 
essential. If by any mischance there are only twenty minutes 
or even only fifteen minutes for the recitation, a fair proportion 
— a fourth or a third — should be conscientiously reserved for 
assignment of the next lesson. 

When should the assignment be made — at the beginning or at 
the close of the recitation period? No rule can be laid down. 
When there is continuity between the lessons, assignment at the 
close permits calling attention to the connection. 

Cb) Study of the lesson. — The second requirement of the reci- 
tation method is study of the lesson by the pupils. ''How can 
I get my pupils to study their lessons?" is the ever-present, in- 
sistent query of Sunday-school teachers. It is only just to say 
that conditions affecting Sunday-school work at the present time 
are such that this is a really diflScult problem, and that the 
teacher who succeeds in getting systematic, diligent lesson 
preparation thereby demonstrates superior ability as a teacher. 

A relation must be established between the pupil's interest 
and the lesson. Without this there will be no lesson study. 
This is to be done by finding points of contact as a part of the 
task of assigning the lesson. A lesson well assigned is a lesson 
almost certain to be studied. 

The prohlem of getting lesson study is very largely one of the 
proper motivation of instruction. The teacher needs to know to 
what desires and motives to appeal.^ In the case of the more 
earnest, conscientious pupils an appeal may be made to the sense 
of duty. Is it not the duty of the pupil to give as much time to 
the study of the journeys of Paul as to Caesar's campaigns? 
The use of penalties, so frequently resorted to by public-school 
teachers, has little or no place in the Sunday school. The effect 
is almost certain to be that of causing the pupil to leave the 
school. The use of prizes and rewards is questionable; unless 
very carefully guarded the practice is likely to do more harm 
than good. A system of awards, giving recognition to all who 
complete certain assigned tasks or do work of a certain standard, 
is open only to slight objection and may be made very stimu- 
lating, especially to junior pupils. In graded schools promotion 
should be on the basis of faithfulness in lesson preparation and 
completion of assigned tasks* 



LSee Chapter IX. 



THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, EXAMINATIONS 47 

Appeal may te made to the interest in motor activity. It will 
be found helpful to have each pupil procure a permanent note- 
book for written work. When questions are assigned, request 
that the answer be placed in the notebooks. Ask for the writing 
of a brief statement on interesting topics. Request the pupils 
to search for illustrations of lesson truths from everyday life and 
from current events in politics and international relations. 
From many sources — conversation, books, magazines, periodicals, 
newspapers, or the pupil's own observation — information may be 
obtained and recorded. Various kinds of handwork may often be 
used successfully as an aid to lesson preparation.^ 

Enlist the pupils in doing things for you and for the class. 
There are few boys or girls who will not gladly do things for 
other people. If the teacher has the confidence and love of his 
pupils, they will readily respond to a personal request to look up 
a particular topic or prepare a written statement as a means of 
helping him. Where the proper esprit de corps has been built up 
in the class, loyalty to the class organization and service to the 
members of the class may be appealed to as the motive for study 
of special assignments. 

Connect the lesson with the reading interests of the pupils. 
There is unlimited scope for collateral reading, especially in the 
fields of history and biography. The teacher who is willing to 
give time to compiling reading references can often obtain a 
large amount of profitable reading bearing at least indirectly and 
sometimes directly upon the lessons. Apart from its bearing 
upon lesson preparation this will be a valuable service to the 
pupils. Incalculable harm is done to the moral and religious 
lives of our pupils through undirected reading. 

Teach the pupils how to study and practice them in studying. 
Many pupils do not prepare their lessons because they do not 
know how to go about it. No one has ever taken the pains to 
show them how. "Perhaps the greatest single source of waste 
in our educational work," says Home, "is the wrong use of time, 
which we spend too much in hearing recitations and discovering 
what pupils have already learned and too little in training them 
to study."^ The teacher who will devote one evening a week to 
meeting with the class, studying with them and teaching them 
how to study will find in this simple expedient a happy solution 
of the problem of lesson preparation.^ 



iSee pages 110-111. 

^Story-Telling, Questioning, and Studying, page 119. 

s^Consult How to Study and Teaching How to Study, McMurry. 



48 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

Finally, endeavor to win the intelligent, sympatJietic coopera- 
tion of the parents. Be sure that the parents know what the 
lessons are and exactly what is expected in the way of lesson 
preparation. Show them that their children need religious in- 
struction and that they cannot get it without effort. Tell them 
that as a religious teacher, rendering an unpaid service, you 
expect their cooperation and will be handicapped in your work 
without it. Lead them to see that the Sunday school is entitled 
to a fair share of the child's time, and that they, as parents, 
must be depended on to protect its interests as over against the 
demands of the public-school and social engagements. 

(c) Presentation ty the pupils. — The third requirement of the 
recitation method is the presentation of the results of their study 
by the pupils under the guidance of the teacher. 

The teacher's preparation should include the writing out of 
original questions on leading points of the lesson. These ques- 
tions may be used in the recitation, but the teacher should not 
be content merely to receive the pupil's answer and pass on to 
another question. The pupil's statement should be accepted at 
its full value but it should also be explained, amplified, and 
developed. Make sure that the pupil understands its signifi- 
cance; bring out all its bearings; bring out a restatement in 
original language; illustrate the point fully. Dwell on it until 
you are sure that it is clear, and that its implications are 
understood. Encourage the asking of questions by the pupils. 
Stimulate comment. Draw out illustrations from the lives and 
experience of the pupils. At this point the recitation method de- 
comes identical with the discussion method, treated in the pre- 
ceding chapter. 

Merely hearing the pupils tell what they have read is to test 
their memory for facts. This is probably worth while but it 
does not go far enough. If their knowledge is to be tested, one 
must ascertain if they understand what they have read. But 
the testing of knowledge is only a part of the teacher's task in 
the recitation. The knowledge newly possessed must be built 
upon, the significance of facts and principles as applied to the 
problems of teaching determined, their application to life and 
conduct shown. 

Do not hesitate to dwell long enough on a single point to 
insure that your end has been achieved. Better one or two 
points made absolutely clear, a single truth and its application 
to life established, than a hurried, superficial treatment of a 
score of so-called "lesson teachings." 



THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, EXAMINATIONS 49 

On the other hand, do not fail to call for a report on every- 
thing assigned. If a pupil who has made diligent preparation 
is not called upon he will be disappointed and inclined to slight 
his next assignment. 

Make sure that all the pupils have some part in the recita- 
tion. A common mistake and one that involves serious injustice 
is that of calling only on the brightest members of the class and 
failing to get any expression from perhaps one half or two thirds 
of the pupils. 

Dangers of the Method. — Our discussion has hinted at some 
of the common weaknesses of this form of instruction. What 
danger have you already come to see in it? 

(a) Formal questions and insufficient answers. — As the recita- 
tion is commonly conducted in many Sunday schools, pupils 
make brief answers to formal questions asked by the teacher. 
Sometimes the practice descends to the level of reading printed 
questions from a teacher's help, the pupils reading the answers 
from their quarterlies in the exact words of the lesson. What- 
ever this may 'be called it is not a recitation. The teacher has 
more to do than merely ask readymade questions and hear 
readymade answers. 

When the recitation method is rightly used it makes certain 
demands upon the pupil in the v/ay of study, investigation, and 
thought. The teacher's questions are for the purpose of drawing 
forth from the pupils the results of their previous work. Ques- 
tions printed in the teachers' helps are merely intended to be 
.suggestive. They may serve as a means of aiding in the prepara- 
tion of original questions. The teacher will not wholly rely 
even on original questions previously prepared. The pupils' 
statements will suggest the form and content of new questions. 
The pupils' helps are intended for home study. Notebooks, 
written reports, and Bibles for reference use may be in the 
pupils' hands; but the teacher should warn pupils against the 
temptation to glance at the lesson or a writer's comment merely 
to find a ready answer to a question. 

It is necessary for the teacher to guard against accepting 
vague and indefinite answers. Unless an answer shows that the 
pupil has a clear and definite idea, another question is in order. 

(&) The rehearsal of familiar facts. — There is a tendency in 
using the recitation method to be content with the commonplace 
and the familiar. It is not enough to rehearse facts that have 
long been the common possession of both teacher and pupils. 



50 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

New knowledge is to be added to that already possessed. It is 
essential that the pupils' reports and answers to questions shall 
be discussed in such a way that new knowledge shall be added to 
old, misconceptions corrected, and the implications of the truth 
for conduct realized. 

EnTiching the Method. — The teacher should not be content 
with the kind of recitation with which his own experience as a 
Sunday-school pupil has made him familiar. The Sunday school 
is a growing institution. The methods of yesterday are out- 
grown. Every teacher's aim should be to improve upon the past. 
Knowledge of the Bible has increased rapidly in recent years. 
There are resources and aids available to-day which the Bible 
students of a few years ago knew nothing about. 

(a) Special sources. — The sources from which information and 
knowledge can be gleaned are almost v,^ithout number. It is a 
part of the teacher's responsibility constantly to direct the pupils 
not only to the Bible and to the lesson helps nearest at hand but 
to other sources, such as commentaries, Bible dictionaries, 
encyclopedias, religious journals, magazines and pamphlets, 
leaflets and tracts published and circulated at low cost by various 
religious organizations. The teacher's enterprise and ingenuity 
will be tested in suggesting the sources most readily accessible 
to his own class. 

The teacher even more than the pupil should be expected to 
bring supplementary material to the recitation. Books, maga- 
zines, and church papers, as well as the regular lesson helps 
should yield material that, because of present, vital interest, will 
help to enrich the lesson teaching. 

(6) Topical recitation. — In senior and young people's classes 
special topics may be assigned for thorough investigation and 
report somewhat after the method used to a considerable extent 
in advanced college courses and in graduate seminars. This is 
an excellent method of instruction; but as things are at present, 
it is evident that it cannot be extensively used in Sunday-schools. 
In exceptional classes, with a thoroughly trained teacher and 
young people of unusually earnest purpose in study, it may well 
be tried. There are in it fine possibilities. 

Reviews 

In nearly every Sunday school some attention is given to 
review, and almost everywhere it is held in general disesteem. 
As a usual thing pupils of all grades consider the review lesson 



THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, EXAMINATIONS 51 

dull and uninteresting, and teachers likewise are indifferent to 
it. This is the result of the prevalence of superficial conceptions 
of what constitutes a review and of the use of wrong methods of 
reviewing. 

The Purpose and M^ethod of Review. — A review is more 
than mere repetition; it is a re-view. It is a means of gaining a 
new view of that which is familiar. It is a process of recalling 
ideas to the mind for the purpose of discovering new meanings 
and new relationships. 

The review relates itself to generalization, the fourth step of 
the formal plan.^ It is the organization of a series of ideas, of 
principles, of truths, into a whole; the consideration of the teach- 
ing of the whole in the light gained from a study of all its parts. 
In the review at the end of a quarter or at the end of a course 
the various lessons that have been studied may be seen to com- 
plement one another or to fit together in such a way as to take 
on new significance and to teach some new and larger truth. 

These important purposes of the review cannot of course be 
accomplished by the mere reading in concert of the various 
lesson titles, "Golden Texts," and "central truths." Such a per- 
formance is hardly more than a parody upon a real review. 

In the past the custom of the superintendent's reviewing the 
lesson for the entire school has widely prevailed. This custom 
was an outgrov/th of teaching exactly the same lesson -to classes 
of all ages in precisely the same way. It is a relic of bygone 
times. It has entirely outlived any usefulness that it may have 
had and should be done away with. The review quite as much 
as the teaching of the lesson is the teacher's work; whether it 
is the review of a single lesson or of a series of lessons it should 
be left wholly to the teacher. 

The Drill Lesson. — While it is a mistake to think of the 
review as a process of drill, it should be recognized that there 
is a need for the drill lesson in Sunday-school instruction. The 
drill lesson, however, should be called by its right name and not 
confused with the review. 

(a) The purpose of drill. — By the drill lesson we mean that 
type of instruction by which facts are fixed so firmly in mind that 
they are certain to be remembered. There is, for example, a con- 
siderable body of fact information that pupils should hav^e. They 
should know the various parts of the Bible and the names of all 
the books of the Bible in their order; they should know the 



1 See page 70. 



52 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

names of the twelve apostles; they should be familiar with the 
principal events in the life and ministry of Jesus and in the mis- 
sionary career of the apostle Paul. There is only one way in 
which such simple facts can be fixed permanently in mind, and 
that is by the process of drill. 

A large part of the memorization of important facts in religious 
instruction should be accomplished during the junior years. In 
the International Graded Lessons, Junior Series, the teaching of 
important fact information is fully provided for. Teachers 
should not fail to give due attention to the correlated lesson. 

(6) Methods of drill. — Perhaps the best brief presentation of 
methods of drill is given by Strayer.^ We summarize his prin- 
cipal points: (1) A motive must he provided. Much drill is 
ineffective because it is imposed upon children; they do not see 
its significance and feel little interest in the accomplishment of 
the results demanded. (2) The pupil must know just what is to 
te done. Before the drill begins, every pupil should have a clear 
idea of what is to be done. The teacher often takes for granted 
that the child knows what he is to do when he does not under- 
stand. (3) The next essential is repetition with attention. 
Concert repetition is frequently characterized by lack of atten- 
tion on the part of the larger proportion of the class. The 
teacher should frequently have those who are leading in the 
repetition stop and then measure the success of the work by 
what the remaining pupils are able to do. (4) Variation in 
procedure is one of the dest icdys of achieving the maximum of 
attention. For example, divide the period of drill into three 
parts: one devoted to oral work, one to written work on sheets 
of paper, one to written work at the blackboard. (5) Gain atten- 
tion dy placing a time limit. Say, "See how much you can get 
done in ten minutes." (6) Keep wide aivake and alert. The 
greatest single reason for lack of attention and interest on the 
part of pupils is indifference and lack of energy on the part of 
the teacher. (7) Insist always on absolute accuracy. Never 
allow careless work in drill. The pupil who gives a wrong 
answer is not simply wrong once; he will tend to be wrong ever 
after. Get rid of the tendency to give the wrong answer and 
teach the correct one. (8) Gradually lengthen the periods te- 
tvjeen repetitions. When we have first obtained the result 
desired we have only begun. What is apparently completely 
mastered to-day will seem to have completely disappeared next 
month. Go over the work several times next month, next 



1 Cf . A Brief Course in, the Teaching Process, Chapter IV. 



THE RECITATION, REVIEWS, EXAMINATIONS 53 

quarter, next year. There will come a time when it will be 
found to have been fixed permanently in mind. (9) Spend the 
greater part of the time upon that part of the work which 
presents special dlMculty. Discover special difficulties as soon 
as possible and drill with particular reference to them. 

Examinations 

Are examinations needed in Sunday-school practice? On first 
thought the Sunday-school teacher probably will answer, "No," 
with emphasis. This is because the real purpose of the examina- 
tion is so little understood. 

The Purpose of Examination. — The true purpose of examina- 
tion is similar to that of the review: it is an important means of 
organization of knoivledge. "The virtue of examination," says 
Bagley, "lies in its power to force strenuous mental effort to the 
task of organizing a large body of facts and principles into a 
coherent system."^ 

Methods of Examination. — While we may have no means of 
requiring our Sunday-school pupils to take examinations, they 
may be led to appreciate their value and to look upon them not 
as unreasonable but as a means of learning. Some form of 
recognition, such as the award of a certificate or otTier honor to 
those who pass creditably, will stimulate interest. 

The foUov/ing suggestions as to method are of value: *'The 
examination should not cover a long period — probably not to 
exceed three months — though when the system is thoroughly 
under way, an annual examination might be given for those 
v/ho are willing to take it. . . . The examination should not be 
a mere test of memory. Its educational purpose should be dis- 
tinctly kept in mind. If the questions are rightly framed, so as 
to constitute a real review of the quarter's work, they may very 
properly be put into the hands of the pupils on one Sunday, to 
be returned with answers a week later, the pupils being in- 
structed to make use of the Bible and any other accessible sources 
of information, personal help only being excluded."^ Some 
teachers will prefer to give out a list of questions, as suggested, 
a week in advance, and have the pupils write on some four or 
five of them during the class session. Careful attention should 
be given to the form of questions. The examination should not 



1 The Educative Process, page 334. 

^Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School, Biirton and Mathews, page 159. 



54 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

be confined to mere fact or informational questions. If the 
examination is to serve the purpose of aiding the pupil to or- 
ganize the knowledge gained, some of the questions must he of a 
kind that will require thought to answer, that will call upon the 
pupil to restate in his own words what he has learned. 

Constructive Task 

1. Observe the teaching of a particular lesson by some good 
teacher who uses the recitation method. Write a brief account 
of exactly what is done. 

2. Consider further this same lesson period: What were the 
strong points of the recitation? What v/ere its deficiencies? 

3. Describe the best review you have ever participated in 
either as teacher or pupil. 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In the library 

1. The recitation lesson: A Brief Course in the Teaching 
Process, Strayer, Chapter X, or Types of Teaching, Earhart, 
Chapter IX. 

2. How to induce a pupil to study: Principles and Ideals for 
the Sunday School, Burton and Mathews, Chapter VII. 

3. The meaning and use of review: Types of Teaching, Ear- 
hart, Chapter XIII. 



CHAPTER VI 
ILLUSTRATIONS 

One of the most effective ways of making truth clear and 
plain and thus causing it to live in the mind and heart of the 
pupil is by means of illustration. The root meaning of the word 
tells us that "to illustrate" means to throw light upon a thing. 
That is, when we illustrate we throw light upon something to 
make it clear. In the presentation of new, unfamiliar, or obscure 
ideas to our pupils we may make them clear by associating them 
with that which is well known. The familiar thing throws light 
upon that which is unfamiliar. In this way illustration becomes 
first aid to understanding. 

Races in their infancy made use of crude drawings of animals 
and objects as a means of expression and communication. So 
also with children. This early tendency never entirely dis- 
appears. Everyone has interest in natural objects, in living 
things, in people, and in action. These form the subject matter 
of illustration and cause it to be an effective instrument of 
instruction. 

With children and with many adults the power of observation 
is stronger and more active than reasoning. They see and feel 
more than they think. Illustrations that appeal to the senses 
and to the emotions are the most effective means of interesting 
them. Robert South said that illustrations are a means of teach- 
ing truth "by sliding it into the understanding through the 
windows of sense." 

The truths of religion are often expressed in abstract form. 
In this form they have little meaning to children and to adults 
of immature minds. To become meaningful they must be inter- 
preted in terms of the concrete and the familiar or associated 
with some previous experience. We may readily do both by 
means of illustration. 

Of the uses of illustrations the following are among the most 
important: (a) They kindle the emotions. The emotions feed 
on the concrete. Feeling may instantly be aroused by translating 
truth into personal terms, (&) They quicken the imagination. 
The sejyice of imagijQatiofl must often be invoked as an aid to 

55 



56 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

teaching. Illustration is one of the best means of appealing to 
it. (c) Tliey aid, reasoning. Often an argument will be intel- 
ligently followed only if each step is made clear by an apt illus- 
tration. Rufus Choate, the eminent lawyer, said he once spent 
two hours on a point that seemed perfectly clear within the 
first five minutes to almost every one in the courtroom, but it 
was only when it finally occurred to him to talk about leather 
was he sure that one pig-headed juror caught his point. That 
one man was needed to win his case, and it took an illustration 
to get him. {d) They offer variety in iwesentation. Change 
and variety are required, else the attention v/anders. (e) They 
aid memory. Incidents, examples, anecdotes, and striking figures 
are readily retained and serve as a means of recalling the truth 
illustrated by them. They are the pegs upon which the memory 
hangs the truth of the lesson. 

KIjN'DS of iLLrSTKATION 

Speaking broadly, we may say that all illustrations are either 
verbal or material. Although they seem very different, their 
service is practically the same. Both kinds serve to interpret 
a new or unfamiliar idea by associating it with a familiar idea 
or image. 

Verbal Illnstrations. — Included under verbal illustrations 
are stories — more particularly brief stories or anecdotes and 
figures of speech. Of the latter the most important are the 
simile and the metaphor. The greatest teachers have made much 
use of these various formes of verbal illustration. Consider how 
often Jesus spoke in parable. Or consider hovv^ many times in 
his teaching he referred to himself in figures. He said: "I am 
the vine," "I am the good shepherd," "I am the way," "I am 
the door." He spoke of him.self as "the bread of life," as "the 
Son of man," as "the stone which the builders rejected." 

Let us consider briefly each of these principal forms of verbal 
illustration. 

(a) Anecdote. — An incident in brief story form is often an 
effective aid in teaching. Its most ccmmon use is to throw 
light upon some particular aspect of a lesson truth. Care and 
discrimination are required in the selection of illustrative inci- 
dents. They should be brief, pointed, and true to life. An 
incident should never be chosen simply because it is an interest- 
ing story. An ill-chosen anecdote may rather distract than illus- 
trate; not uncommonly an incident starts the minds of the 



ILLUSTRATIONS 57 

pupils off in directions foreign to the lesson instead of illuminat- 
ing the truth supposed to be taught. Much depends also on the 
manner of telling the incident and upon the right emphasis 
being given. The most effective of stories may be so told as to 
convey an effect opposite to that they are intended to teach. 
Davidson tells of an eleven-year-old boy brought before a 
juvenile court on the charge of running away. When questioned 
he said he got the idea of leaving home, spending his money, 
and sleeping in a pig sty from the story of the Prodigal Son 
which he had heard in Sunday school. 

(&) Simile. — The simile, consisting of an expressed compari- 
son, is the simplest of all figures of speech. Whenever a teacher 
uses "like" or "as" he employs a simile. The teacher should 
bear in mind, however, that mere comparison is not enough. 
That which is illustrated must be compared to something more 
simple, more familiar, or better understood than itself. If the 
comparison is apt and familiar it is almost invariably effective. 
Among many similes of the Bible the following may be given as 
examples: "The path of the just is as a shining light"; "The 
ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind 
driveth away"; "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear him." 

(c) Metaphor. — The metaphor, like the simile, is a form of 
comparison but is different in kind. The resemblance of the 
things compared is indicated by applying the name, attribute, or 
act of one directly to the other. It has been thus defined: "A 
metaphor is an act of the imagination figuring one thing to be 
another." It leaves more to the pupil's imagination than the 
simile and acts more directly as a mental stimulant. It is also 
stronger and more forcible than the simile. 

On the teacher's part the metaphor requires more imagination 
and originality of thought than the simile. Without question 
it is one of the most effective forms of illustration, but it is one 
which must be used with caution. Some familiar examples from 
the Bible are: "Ye are the salt of the earth"; "Ye are the light 
of the world"; "Israel is an empty vine"; "I am the vine, ye 
are the branches." 

With thought and patient effort facility in apt comparison can 
be acquired by the teacher and will be found to be thoroughly 
worth while. The ordinary round of daily life, the most simple 
and commonplace experiences, can be made to teach great 
spiritual truths by the teacher who has cultivated the ability to 
discern their hidden meanings. 



58 PRINCIPLES OP RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

Material Illnstrations. — These include a wide variety — any- 
thing, in fact, that will lend itself to the picturing of an idea. 
Those more commonly used are maps, photographs, and other 
kinds of pictures; diagrams, models, coins, and blackboard 
sketches or outlines. The value of these concrete materials as 
aids in teaching cannot be questioned. They have come into 
disrepute with many because some have gone to extremes in 
using them, making them a hobby; and others have used them 
Tvithout discrimination. It should always be remembered that 
in the use of almost any material illustration there is some risk 
of centering the attention of the pupil upon the object itself, 
because of the inherent interest it may have, rather than upon 
that which it is intended to illustrate. 

(a) O'bjects. — There are many objects that may be brought 
into use in religious teaching. For example, a phylactery, an 
Oriental garment, or a lamp such as was used in ancient times 
might be so used as to give point and emphasis to a saying of 
Jesus. If the pupil has actually seen the object referred to, the 
saying itself will more vividly and deeply impress him. 

Models are a kind of object frequently used — such, for ex- 
ample, as a model of the Temple, of an Oriental house, of a 
native hut in some mission land. If it seems important to 
convey an idea of form and appearance, this can be much more 
easily and effectively done by showing a model than by a verbal 
description. The use of objects and models has, hov/ever, the 
distinct limitation already pointed out: they may prove to be so 
interesting in themselves, as o'bjects, that the attention and in- 
terest of the pupils may be entirely absorbed in them rather 
than in that which they are intended to illustrate. Always it 
will be important to lead the thought of the pupils beyond the 
object to its inner meaning — to the truth which it is intended to 
illustrate — in addition to showing the object, to explain its moral 
and religious significance. As Davidson says, "The actual Mount 
of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane may give us the clearest 
idea of these as places; but to the tourist bent on sight-seeing 
they may convey less clear ideas of their religious significance 
than can be conveyed to a little child through a religious story. 
. . . When, therefore, the teacher wishes to illustrate the mean- 
ing of some visible and tangible object that has a bearing upon 
the spiritual life of man, it may be said with perfect truth that 
the object does not illustrate the most important aspect of itself. 
Its spiritual significance needs to be explained in language.^ 



1 Means and Methods in the Religious Education of the Young, page 84. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 59 

A caution needs to be expressed also concerning the symbolic 
use of objects. With some ministers and evangelists this is a 
favorite method of teaching. Contrary to general opinion it is 
more suited to use v/ith adults than with children, as it is in 
reality not a concrete but instead a rather highly abstract form 
of teaching. The child's thinking does not carry over from the 
symbol to that which it is intended to illustrate. Interest there 
is, undoubtedly, but it is interest in the material shown rather 
than the idea symbolized. Often the object lesson violates one 
of the most fundamental of all principles of teaching: the symbol 
is almost if not quite as unfamiliar as that which it is supposed 
to illustrate. It is impossible to illustrate the unknown by the 
unknown. 

(6) Pictures. — Of all forms of material illustrations pictures 
are most readily available and most commonly used. Few 
teachers, however, fully appreciate the value and possibilities of 
their use. The fact that little children live in a world of fancy, 
in truth a picture world, accounts for pictures speaking in a 
language they understand more readily than any other. A 
picture such as Murillo's "Christ Feeding the Multitude" or 
Reynolds' "The Infant Samuel" speaks a message to a child such 
as many sentences of spoken or printed words would be in- 
capable of conveying. Hofmann's "Christ Blessing the Chil- 
dren" tells the story of Matthew 19. 13-15 quite as effectively as 
it could be told in words. 

We may note briefly two important services performed by 
pictures in religious teaching: (a) They provide a background 
of fact. The manners and customs of the Orient are so unlike 
the life with which the children are familiar that pictures are 
necessary to an understanding of the Bible stories. The service 
performed by a picture is similar to that of a map. It forms a 
background on which the mind can locate people and their activi- 
ties and understand them. In portraying the unfamiliar it gives 
a realistic impression such as words alone could not give. There 
are certain great pictures that present Bible situations with 
such wealth of detail and pictorial suggestion that they are in- 
valuable as illustrations. As notable examples we may name 
Holman Hunt's "Finding of Our Saviour in the Temple"; Hof- 
mann's "Christ and the Doctors"; Keller's "Raising the Daughter 
of Jairus." Concerning the first-named picture Henry Turner 
Bailey says: "Not a line or a dot in the whole canvas has been 
placed there without Scriptural reason. Such pictures are veri- 
table treasure houses, to be searched as the woman of the parable 



60 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

searched for the lost penny. . . . They are among the most 
valuable means of teaching at our command." (&) TTiey appeal 
to the religious sentiments and awaken spiritual ideals. A great 
picture is more than a transcript of a scene: it is the embodi- 
ment of an ideal, a message to the soul. It appeals to the 
imagination, stirs the emotions, quickens sympathy and all kin- 
dred noble feelings and sentiments. Such a picture as Raphael's 
"The Sistine Madonna" may be best described as the visualiza- 
tion of a spiritual ideal. There is no better way of bringing our 
pupils into contact with great spiritual ideas and ideals than 
through the use of great pictures. 

Teachers who have access to good public libraries will usually 
find it possible to procure loose photographs and prints for use 
in the class. Books that contain at least fairly good reproduc- 
tions can always be obtained. Through judicial selection ex- 
tending over a series of years a teacher at a moderate expendi- 
ture may make a collection of unmounted photographs that will 
be a personal treasure and a valuable aid in teaching. Dis- 
crimination in selection will need to be cultivated. 

The use of cheap, gaudy, and inartistic pictures and picture 
rolls in the Sunday school should be discouraged. In the past 
it has been common practice to use crude, inaccurate, and in- 
artistic prints. The idea that they were really helpful was a 
mistaken notion. There is no place in religious teaching for that 
which offends the sense of the artistic and the beautiful. 

(c) Maps. — As an aid in forming definite and accurate ideas 
of size, distance, and direction maps are important in teaching. 
The mere name of a place means very little to a pupil when first 
brought to his notice. It must be definitely placed — visualized in 
its relationship to other places about which he knows in order 
to have significance. This can be accomplished through the use 
of the map. Maps also objectify, make concrete, and give sig- 
nificance to many facts that otherwise would simply be held in 
memory as meaningless bits of information. In addition to the. 
large detail maps simple outline maps and a relief map of 
Palestine will be found useful. 

{d) Diagrams. — In the exposition of abstract ideas the teacher 
will often find an original diagram a valuable means of making 
clear and definite that which would otherwise remain obscure to 
the pupil. Even that which seems perfectly simple to the teacher 
may be better understood by some pupils by means of a diagram- 
matic representation. It is interesting to note that in the case 
of a book as simple as Adam's Primer of Teaching a group of 



ILLUSTRATIONS 61 

Sunday-school teachers testified that a set of diagrams giving a 
graphic representation of the main points of the various chapters 
enabled them to understand the text in a much more practical 
way. 

(e) Blackhoard. — It would be well if a blackboard were always 
within reach of the teacher. It may be profitably utilized in 
many ways. The writing of an important word or phrase, the 
statement of a principle or a definition, an outline or summary 
of the lesson, a sketch of an object, a diagram as an aid to 
exposition, are a few of the uses to which it lends itself. Many 
teachers who imagine they cannot use the blackboard at all 
would find with a little practice that it would be of much 
service. Elaborate symbolic designs, placed upon the blackboard 
in advance of the session, used to a considerable extent in the 
past for lesson exposition before the whole Sunday school, are of 
comparatively little value. They are open to the same criticism 
made above to object teaching. When a stationary blackboard 
is impracticable, a portable substitute may be devised. Lacking 
this, large sheets of ordinary Manila paper with crayons will be 
found serviceable. 

(/) Stereoscope. — The stereoscope may be used occasionally 
with profit in Sunday-school teaching. Its peculiar value is that 
it represents objects in three dimensions and in this way fur- 
nishes an appearance of reality that is not supplied by any other 
form of pictorial representation. The disadvantage attending its 
use is that only one pupil at a time may look at a picture. 
Unless skillfully managed its use is wasteful of time. 

PKiNcirLES OF Illustration 

Certain general principles that govern the effective use of 
illustration, both verbal and material, should be recognized: 

1. The illustration should have to do with that which is 
familiar. Usually it should be both simple and concrete. To be 
most effective it should deal with matter within the range of 
the pupil's experience. Unless it is more familiar than that 
which it is meant to illustrate it will be of no service. The 
mistake is sometimes made of trying to illustrate by something 
less known than that which it is desired to throw light upon. 
An illustration that brings in the unknown serves only to in- 
crease perplexity. In a certain text an author of great ability 
refers to the Song at the Red Sea, Exodus 15. 1-18. In seeking 
to establish the contention that it was not composed complete at 
one time, but that it was the result of a process of growth he re- 



62 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

fers to the ballad of "Chevy Chase." A teacher never having 
heard of the ballad of "Chevy Chase" and wishing more informa- 
tion than is contained in the textbook, sought help in vain from 
his pastor, an acquaintance who is a college professor, and the 
librarian of the city library. The fitness of the illustration 
should of course be judged from the pupil's standpoint. That 
which is perfectly familiar to the teacher may be entirely strange 
to the pupil. 

2. The connection should de 'plainly apparent. Far-fetched 
illustrations — that is, illustrations in which the connection needs 
to be pointed out — are of little or no service. "Illustrations 
that are dragged in, that are not vitally connected with the point, 
are entirely out of place. If illustrations always truly illus- 
trated, then children would not remember the illustration and 
forget the point; for, remembering the illustration, they would 
be led directly to the point because of the closeness of the connec- 
tion."^ 

3. There should "be no striking dissimilarity. Two things may 
be much alike in some one particular — yet so strikingly dis- 
similar in another as to spoil the effect of the comparison or 
even make it ludicrous. 

Jf. The illustration should not 1)6 too striking, too attractive, 
or too suggestive. An illustration may be so vivid and attractive 
that it centers attention upon itself. The illustration becomes 
the important thing, and that which it is intended to illustrate 
becomes secondary or even unimportant. The purpose of illus- 
tration is not to amuse, or to entertain, or even to create in- 
terest, but to make clear. Illustration should not be depended on 
to attract or to hold the attention. The lesson material itself 
should do that; and if, when properly presented, it fails to do 
so, illustrations are of little use. Sometimes an illustration 
otherwise suitable is too suggestive; it contains some suggestion 
that leads away from the lesson and thus distracts more than 
it helps. 

Finding Illustrations 

1. Use original material. The matter of procuring illustra- 
tions should first of all be a matter of originating them. The 
illustration taken over from a printed collection usually requires 
to have a place made for it in the narrative or the argument 
instead of fitting in naturally. That taken from the teacher's 
own experience or from the lives of the pupils has a freshness, 



^How to Teach, Strayer and Norsworthy, page 210. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 63 

vitality, and strength of appeal that no borrowed incident can 
have. 

2. Cultivate the imagination. The teacher needs imagination 
quite as much as the pupils. Insist upon your own mind furnish- 
ing you with rhetorical figures. Cultivate the ability to see 
truth in the concrete. Trust your inspirations. The mind will 
respond, and that which at first seemed extremely difficult will 
in time become natural. 

3. Be o'bserving. Be always on the alert for illustrations with 
which to enrich your teaching. Finding illustrations is largely 
a matter of persistently looking for them. It is an excellent plan 
to keep at hand a small notebook in which to note analogies, 
comparisons, incidents, anecdotes, original observations, and 
illustrations of every kind that can possibly be of service in 
teaching. Another good plan is to have a Bible either interleaved 
with blank pages or with wide margins, in which may be noted 
thoughts, incidents, and quotations that illustrate Scripture 
passages. In time, by diligent use of these plans, the teacher 
will have original sources of illustrations invaluable in teaching. 

Jf. Collect material illustrations. It is well worth while to 
collect material illustrations, especially models and other objects 
illustrative of Oriental life, and choice photographs. A compara- 
tively small amount invested annually will in a few years result 
in a collection of large use in religious teaching. 

Constructive Task 

1. Observe the teaching of some good teacher. Take notes on: 
(a) the extent of the use of illustrations; (Z?) different kinds of 
illustrations used; (c) their source. 

2. Think of your own experience as a Sunday-school pupil, 
(a) To what extent were you helped by illustrations? (6) What 
kinds of illustration interested you most? 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In ''The Worker and Work" series 

1. The value and use of illustrations: The Senior Worker and 
Work, Chapter IX. 

In the library 

1. Illustration: Primer on Teaching, Adams, Chapter IX. 

2. Sidelights on illustration: Picture Work, Hervey, Chapter 
IV. 



64 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

3. Dangers of illustration: Exposition and Illustration in 
Teaching, Adams, Chapter XVI. 

4. Adding new knowledge through illustration: An Introduc- 
tion to HigJi-scfiool Teaching, Colvin, Chapter XII. 



CHAPTER VII 
LESSON PLANS 

A WELL-KNOWN educator, in discussing teaching in the public- 
schools, indicates that it is less efficient than it should be because 
of two common faults: first, many teachers go before their 
classes day after day without any clearly defined aim in mind; 
second, they go before their classes without having determined 
any plan of procedure for the hour. Could this same criticism 
be fairly made of the work of Sunday-school teachers? Is it 
common for teachers in Sunday schools to have no clearly defined 
idea of what they are to try to accomplish in a given hour or 
how they are to go about it? Is it not probably true that these 
faults are even more prevalent in Sunday-school teaching than 
in public-school practice? 

Success in any line of endeavor depends on a well-formulated 
plan of action. It is not the result of accident; it does not 
merely happen by chance. As in anything else, so also in teach- 
ing: success comes as the result of effort definitely directed 
toward an end intelligently chosen. As the pattern aids the 
dressmaker, the architect's plan the builder, so the lesson plan 
serves the teacher. 

Making A Lesson Plan 

The Aim. — First to be determined by the teacher in planning 
a lesson is what he proposes to teach, and why he desires to 
teach it. The statement of what he proposes to accomplish 
through the use of the lesson material is commonly called the 
aim. 

In the International Graded Lessons a general aim is expressed 
for an entire series and again for each year of the series. For 
example, the aim for the Junior Series is: "to help the child to 
become a doer of the Word and to lead him into conscious 
loyalty to Jesus Christ." The aims for each of the four years 
are these: (1) "to awaken an interest in the Bible and love for 
it; to deepen the impulse to choose and to do the right"; (2) 
"to present the ideal of moral heroism, to reveal the power and 
majesty of Jesus Christ, and to show his followers going forth 

65 



66 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

in his strength to do his work"; (3) "to deepen the sense of 
responsibility for right choices; to strengthen love of the right 
and hatred of the wrong"; (4) "to present Jesus as our Example 
and Saviour; to show that the Christian life is a life of service; 
to deepen interest in the Book which contains God's message to 
the world." In addition to these general aims a specific aim is 
stated for each lesson. For example, let us take Lesson I. The 
subject is "In the Beginning.'* The teaching material is Genesis 
1. 1 to 2. 3. The aim is: "to present the thought of God as the 
Creator of all things, the rightful Ruler of the universe, and to 
establish in the child an attitude of reverence toward God as 
Creator and toward nature as his work." 

In most of the lesson helps prepared for the use of Sunday- 
school teachers a specific aim is stated for each lesson. In many 
cases, perhaps in most cases, it will be well for the teacher to 
adopt the specific aim as stated in the lesson help. Sometimes it 
will be wiser to formulate a different aim. There are few 
lessons taken from the Bible which will not lend themselves 
almost equally well to more than one aim. Read, for example, 
John 1. 29-49. What aims might a teacher have in teaching this 
material? In one lesson course the aim is stated: "To make 
practical to each child the thought that he may become a follower 
of the Lord Jesus." With equal appropriateness the aim might 
be: "to discover the meaning of comradeship with Jesus." An 
entirely different aim but equally appropriate would be: "to 
teach the duty and privilege of bearing witness concerning Jesus 
Christ." Not infrequently it will happen that the aim stated is 
not the one best adapted to meet the needs of the particular 
class the teacher is called upon to teach. It is the teacher's 
responsibility to decide as to this. The aim cannot be too clearly 
and sharply defined. Often the class session is without effect 
because the teacher's aim is not closely related to the pupils' 
lives. If, after thoughtful consideration, it is the teacher's 
judgment that an aim other than that stated in the lesson help 
is preferable, there should be no hesitation in making a change. 

Colvin lists several common faults in the statement of aims 
by teachers,^ among them these: (1) The teacher states his aims 
in too general and indefinite terms. (2) The teacher formulates 
aims that are beyond the understanding of the pupils or are so 
large and comprehensive that they cannot be grasped easily. 
(3) The teacher sets up aims that are largely formal and so 
obvious that they are of no value in the actual teaching of the 



^Introduction to High-School Teaching, page 344£f. 



LESSON PLANS 67 

lesson. (4) The teacher's aim is the same day after day. (5) 
The teacher attempts to realize too many aims in the course of 
a single lesson. Thinking of your own teaching or of that of 
other teachers with whose work you are familiar, do you con- 
sider this criticism valid as applied to Sunday-school teaching? 
Which of these faults have you commonly observed? Which 
have you not found? 

The Outline of Lesson Material. — A second step in the 
teacher's preparation is the organization of the lesson material. 
By this we mean the construction of an outline showing its 
structure. If it is an argument, the outline should show the 
logical sequence, or development of the argument, with the main 
points emphasized. If it is a narrative of action, the outline 
should indicate the chronological sequence, bringing out the 
events of chief importance. If it is a story, the outline should 
indicate its various parts. In many cases construction of the 
outline may be preliminary to the choice of aim — that is, the 
teacher may find it necessary to discover the development of 
thought of the subject matter before finally stating the aim. 
The outline should be brief and not unduly complicated, indi- 
cating only the points of outstanding importance, that the teacher 
may keep it in mind while teaching and be able to use it as a 
working basis. 

The Tentative Scheme of Lesson Presentation. — The third 
step in the teacher's preparation is to plan the procedure of 
teaching the lesson. This should be done with the thought that 
it may be only tentative, as the circumstances of the hour may 
make it desirable to do something entirely different. No teacher 
is more helpless than the one who feels bound to follow a plan, 
that unexpected developments have made unsuitable. 

(a) The approach. — The first thing is to choose a point of contact. 
By this is meant something in which the pupils are interested, 
about which they have been thinking and are ready to talk, and 
v/hich can be naturally related to that which it is desired to 
teach. The purpose is to connect the pupil's present interest 
with that which it is desired to bring to him. The point of 
contact may be any one of many things: a previous lesson, a 
striking occurrence of the preceding week, an experience of some 
member of the class, a desire to solve a problem, something that 
some one of the pupils has expressed a desire to do — any matter 
of present interest, in fact, which may be connected with the 
lesson teaching. 



68 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

In choosing a point of contact it is not necessary that the 
teacher should be bound by his outline. The outline should not 
be entirely disregarded; neither should it hamper the teacher 
in getting a good start. If the focus of interest or need of the 
pupils does not coincide with the first point of the outline, be 
free to begin at any point. It will be comparatively easy later 
to go back and catch up any omitted points that are important. 

A point of contact having been chosen, the pupils' aim should 
be stated. By the pupils' aim is meant the purpose that the 
teacher desires the pupils to form for themselves, sometimes at 
the beginning of the lesson, more often as the result of the 
lesson teaching. The teacher is not to tell the pupils what their 
aim should be: lie is to lead them to cJioose their oicn aim; but 
to do this it is necessary for him to get it clearly in mind and 
decide how he will lead them to formulate it, each in his own 
way. The plan should show how the teacher intends to do this. 
The pupils' aim will be similar to the teacher's aim but different 
in form. For a lesson on "How to Keep the Lord's Day," based on 
Mark 2. 23 to S. 6, the teacher's aim might be stated: "To lead 
to a joyous keeping of the Lord's day as he would have it kept." 
The pupils' aim might be stated: "How would the Lord have 
me keep his day?" 

In recent years an increasing emphasis has been given to the 
place of problems in teaching. Instead of talking about the 
lesson aim we frequently speak of presenting the lesson in terms 
of a problem. AH activity of the child, it is to be remembered, is 
directed to the solution of some practical problem. "WTien any 
need is felt, the problem of how the need may be satisfied im- 
mediately presents itself. Since problems have so large a place 
in the life of the pupil, it is a distinct advantage if the lesson 
can be stated in terms of a problem. 

(6) The lesson development. — The next thing to be done in 
planning the procedure of teaching the lesson is to decide upon 
the method of presentation of the material. The method may 
be any one of several — story-telling, questions and discussion, 
topical recitation, lecture, or otherwise, as the teacher may 
prefer. The method should be worked out in outline, with the 
various steps indicated. The order of this outline may not cor- 
respond to the teacher's preliminary outline of the lesson material 
but when complete it will include all the essential points of it. 

If it is proposed to use questions, it will be profitable to write 
out a few, especially at the points where new topics are to be 
introduced. To prepare a full set of questions, to be read off, 



LESSON PLANS 69 

means that the teaching process will be robbed of its life and 
become merely a dull, wooden procedure. If topics have been 
assigned for report, these should be indicated. If references are 
to be read, provision should be made for them. Illustrations 
should be jotted down, and a list made of illustrative objects, 
maps, or charts that are to be used. In brief, each step in the 
lesson development should be decided upon and indicated in the 
lesson plan. 

(c) The application. — Next in order is the application. It is 
not the teacher but the pupil who makes the application. In fact, 
only the pupil can make the application, since by the word we 
mean a resultant change in the pupil's feeling and conduct. 
Anything the teacher may say by way of applying the lesson is 
external to the pupil's will. He is a free, self-active personality 
and must apply the lesson himself. The teacher may aid by sug- 
gestive questions and by bringing situations to the attention of 
the pupils in which others have acted, or in which opportunities 
are presented for activities in line with the teaching of the 
lesson. Such questions and suggestions may well be noted in 
advance as a part of the lesson plan. 

The Assignment. — Finally, the teacher should look forward 
to the advance lesson. The teacher's most important question 
is, "How may a motive for study be established in the pupils' 
minds?" The almost universal complaint among Sunday-school 
teachers is that their pupils do not study their lessons. The 
reason they do not study is that the teachers fail to establish a 
motive for study. Unfortunately we may seldom safely assume 
that a sufficient motive already exists. With primary and junior 
pupils a system of awards and credits may be used with good 
effect. In case they are used, the lesson plan should contain 
provision for mentioning them in connection with assigning the 
lesson. In some cases curiosity or, what is more important, 
desire for specific items of new knowledge may be appealed to. 
Very often a brief discussion may be made to reveal to the 
pupils the value of the lesson in aiding them to solve vital prob- 
lems of their lives. "The recognition of a problem," says Ear- 
hart, "is the first factor in proper study. . . . This problem must 
be felt as such by those who are to study, or else the motive and 
guide for thought are lacking. In order that the thinking may 
be accurate, the problem must be clearly defined to the mind of 
the person who is to do the thinking."^ 

We have now stated the essentials of a well-made lesson plaii. 



1 Teaching Children to Study, page 22, 



70 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

We have purposely made the statement somewhat free and in- 
formal. It is not to be thought of as. a rigid scheme to be abso- 
lutely followed in all details. In one form or another a good 
lesson plaa will include, with more or less emphasis upon each, 
the four essentials we have named. Compare, at this point, the 
lesson plans presented in the Appendix. Note in each case simi- 
larities and differences as compared with the outline presented 
above. 

The Herbartian Plan 

Any discussion of the subject of lesson plans would be incom- 
plete without at least some reference to the plan set forth by 
Herbart, which has received universal recognition. 

The Five Steps. — The plan involves five steps, so called, 
which, stated as briefly as possible, are: (1) preparation of the 
pupil's mind; (2) presentation of the new material; (3) asso- 
ciation of the new material with what the pupil already knows, 
using comparison and contrast to make the main points of the 
lesson short and clear; (4) generalization, in which the pupil 
is led to formulate the main proposition for himself; (5) applica- 
tion, in which the pupil is led to make some use of what he has 
acquired.^ 

Appreciation and Criticism. — As a formal plan for inductive 
teaching the Herbartian plan probably cannot be improved upon. 
Often it may be followed without alteration. It is to be noted, 
however, that the first step is at least partly accomplished in 
lesson preparation; that the plan sometimes applies better to a 
series of lessons than to a single lesson, in which case an entire 
lesson period may be devoted to a single step; and that not 
infrequently not all of the steps are necessary. The chief objec- 
tion to the plan is that there has been a tendency with some 
teachers to regard it as the only worth-while type of teaching 
and to allow it to become rigid and mechanical. The result has 
been that it has tended to the use of a stereotyped form, robbing 
teaching of variety and life. 

The Use of Lesson Plans 

Tlie Pathway to Power. — The making of a complete lesson 
plan may seem to the novice in teaching to involve an unneces- 
sary amount of labor. For the beginner, certainly, it is necessary 
and it is one of the surest of all pathways to power. With ex- 



iFor a brief discussion of the "five steps" see the Primer on Teaching, Adams, Chap- 
ter VI; for a more thorough discussion, The Educative Process, Bagley, Chapter XIX. 



LESSON PLANS 71 

perience and gradually acquired skill the detail that at first was 
indispensable will become less necessary. After some years of 
teaching it may be found sufficient to prepare a statement of the 
teacher's aim or aims, the pupil's aim, the principal topics of the 
subject matter and questions with which to introduce them. 
References also will be required. As one goes on, not all lessons 
will need to be planned in complete detail. It should be realized, 
however, that indifference to careful planning is the peril of 
experienced teachers and that exact preparation is the only safe- 
guard against discursiveness. 

How to Use the Lesson Flan. — Our emphasis upon the neces- 
sity of the lesson plan is not to be understood as an indorsement 
of a slavish use of it. It is not something that is to be adhered 
to at all costs. Sometimes circumstances will require that it be 
altered in the course of the lesson period. 

Should a teacher use a ready-made plan? Most lesson helps 
provide a teaching plan. Should this be taken over and used 
without change or with the addition of any supplementary 
material the teacher may have collected? There are two objec- 
tions to such a procedure. The ready-made plan is likely to 
have very little relation to the needs or problems of the par- 
ticular group of pupils that it is the teacher's responsibility to 
teach. It is important that a plan shall be prepared v/ith their 
needs and problems in mind. Again, no ready-made plan, no 
matter how excellent, can be used with the same sense of per- 
sonal possession and consciousness of power as accompanies a 
plan that one has worked out for himself. The plan furnished 
in the lesson help may aid the teacher materially in working out 
his own plan; it should never be used as a substitute for a plan 
of one's own. 

Constructive Task 

1. Criticize the following statement of aim taken from a 
teachers' magazine: (a) "The aim of the lesson is to discover 
the essential message of the book of Revelation for the people 
of John's day, and also the permanent message for all ages. 
What great and particular need do we have of this message just 
at this time?" 

2. Observe the teaching of a particular lesson: (a) Is it evi- 
dent that the teacher has a definite aim in mind? (&) Does the 
teacher seem to know from time to time the direction he desires 
to go and to guide the questions and discussion in that direction, 



72 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

or does the direction the lesson takes seem to be a matter of 
chance? 

3. Select a particular lesson from the International Graded 
Lessons and develop a detailed teaching plan. 

Refebences fob Supplementaby Reading 
In "The Worker and WorW- series 

1. An hour with a skilled Primary teacher: The Primary 
Worker and Work, Chapter II. 

2. Planning a lesson for juniors : The Junior Worker and Work, 
pages 74-78. 

In the library 

1. The preparation of lesson plans: A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process, Strayer, Chapter XVI. 

2. What a lesson plan should include: Types of Teaching, 

Earhart, Chapter XV. 



CHAPTER VIII 
INTEREST AND ATTENTION 

It is said that one evening President Oilman of Johns Hopkins 
University and Professor Sylvester, the great mathematician, 
went together to the opera. As they were coming out, President 
Oilman asked his companion how he had enjoyed it. Professor 
Sylvester said: "I got to thinking about a mathematical problem 
and forgot all about the opera." Then he proceeded to lead the 
president into the maze of an intricate mathematical formula. 
His interest in a problem of mathematics was so deep that no 
attention was given to the sights and sounds presented by the 
opera. 

There are two inferences from this incident which rest upon a 
sound educational basis: first, without attention there can he no 
teaching; and, second, attention depends on interest. These two 
principles the teacher should have ever before him. There is no 
use attempting to teach without attention. The attempt is only 
a waste of effort. Though the pupil's body may be before you, 
his mind is somewhere else. To insure attention you must appeal 
to interest. But what is attention and what is interest? 

The Nature and Use of Attention 

What Attention Is. — In the field of consciousness there is 
always a focal point with which we are more concerned than 
anything else. At any particular moment some one idea or per- 
ception or some group of ideas or perceptions is at focus in the 
field of consciousness. In a flash this focal point may have been 
displaced, and something else may have taken its place. That is 
to say, consciousness always presents a focus and a margin. 
That which is focal in consciousness at a particular moment is 
the object of attention. Always some perception, idea, or feeling 
stands out with greater prominence in consciousness than any- 
thing else. The teacher who asserts that her pupils are in- 
attentive is in error. They may not be attentive to what she is 
trying to teach, but be sure they are attending to something. 
While she speaks of Peter's sermon, one boy may have his atten- 
tion centered on to-morrow's football game, another on how he 

73 



74 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

can earn money to buy a new necktie, and a third on the roast 
duck that the family is to have for dinner. If they are normal 
boys, there is no inattention among them; so long as they are 
conscious they are attending to something. 

Kinds of Attention. — It is essential in our study of the sub- 
ject that we distinguish between what may for convenience be 
spoken of as different kinds of attention. The textbooks on 
psychology use various terms; the following are sufficiently 
simple to be easily understandable and at the same time scien- 
tifically accurate: 

(a) Involuntary attention. — Frequently we have had the ex- 
perience of loud noises, bright flashes of light, unpleasant odors, 
swiftly moving objects forcing themselves into the center of con- 
sciousness. Not always have these experiences had to do with sense 
impressions. Sometimes ideas intrude unbidden and seemingly 
compel our attention. For the time being the object of attention 
seems to dominate the mind. If we analyze the situation we say 
that we cannot help giving our attention. It is given in accord- 
ance with fundamental instinctive tendencies. With the infant 
all attention is of this involuntary type. It is in this way that 
experience begins to be built up. We never entirely outgrow this 
form of attention. A flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, the 
sharp clanging of a bell close at hand — these and other similar 
stimuli compel attention throughout life. 

(6) Spontaneous attention. — What are some of the things that 
have occupied the center of the field of consciousness in our 
minds within the last few hours? As this question is considered, 
everyone realizes that there have been many things that have 
had free, spontaneous attention. They have not obtruded them- 
selves or compelled attention, but neither has it required effort 
to attend to them. Attention has been freely given because of 
interest or because of the presence of a sense of need. In the 
case of children play is the best example of spontaneous atten- 
tion. A seven-year-old child on one rainy afternoon outlined 
twenty doll dresses and gave herself uninterruptedly for three 
hours to the detailed drawing of the designs. 

(c) Voluntary attention. — ^Voluntary attention is attention 
with effort. Whenever we attend to anything in response to a 
definite act of will we exercise voluntary attention. You are pre- 
paring a teaching plan on the conversion of Saul. It is evening; 
you are fatigued by the day's work; others are moving about and 
conversing with one another. As you proceed you control your 



INTEREST AND ATTENTION 75 

thought processes with a conscious sense of effort. You are 
giving voluntary, that is, forced attention to the task you have 
undertaken. 

Young children are not capable of voluntary attention; it 
requires a kind and degree of mental power that they do not 
possess. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the human 
mind is the capacity it has of developing the power of controlling 
attention instead of attention being controlled from without. 
"The fundamental principle of human progress is the ability to 
hold the attention to that which at present exists only as an 
aim to be achieved or an ideal to be realized." 

Voluntary attention directed to a specific end in time becomes 
modified. As the result of effort and persistence the object of 
forced attention may become interesting and attractive. In this 
case attention is no longer forced; it becomes spontaneous.^ 

Tlie Use of tlie Various Types of Attention. — There is very 
little place in efficient teaching for the use of involuntary atten- 
tion. The appeal to it more often than otherwise is likely to be 
a confession of weakness or ignorance. The clanging of a bell, 
rapping upon the desk or the back of the seat, and loud calls 
for order have no place in a modern Sunday school. It is the 
noise, not the lesson, to which attention is directed in all such 
efforts. What they really do is to distract attention. There are 
times when it becomes desirable to appeal to instinctive tenden- 
cies to attend. There are ways in which this can be done which 
are not objectionable. These will be suggested later. 

The teacher's dependence is chiefly upon spontaneous attention. 
To be able to appeal to it is to insure that the lesson will pro- 
ceed smoothly, pleasantly, and effectively. Throughout the ele- 
mentary grades the appeal must be almost wholly on the basis 
of interest. It is only as the stimulus and compulsion of interest 
is secured that we can have any real assurance that desirable, 
lasting impressions are being registered, and that character is 
being permanently influenced. At the same time it must be 
remembered that religion has to do very largely with satis- 
factions that are not immediate but remote and that, likewise, 
as the apostle says, "the natural man receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God: ... he cannot know them, because they are 
spiritually judged" (1 Cor. 2. 14). There is a necessary place in 
the teaching of religion for voluntary attention. There are im- 



1 The term used by some psychologistg is "secondary passive attention." See Human 
Behavior, Colvin and Bagley, page 61. The entire discussion (Chapter IV) is excellent. 



76 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

portant moral values growing out of the effort involved in giving 
forced attention — values of discipline and self-control — whicli 
should not be overlooked. As we pass from childhood to adoles- 
cence we should attach increasing importance to voluntary atten- 
tion. Just as the development of intellectual power may be in 
some degree measured by the increase of ability to give voluntary 
attention, so the development of moral and religious interest is 
indicated by increasing response to ends that are not identified 
with immediate satisfactions. 

The significance of these two last-named types of attention is 
admirably stated by Norsworthy and Whitley: "The work that 
counts in the world — the work that discovers new principles, 
makes new applications, touches the hearts or wills or consciences 
of men and women — is always done by spontaneous attention. 
As has already been pointed out, however, the spontaneous atten- 
tion natural to childhood is closely connected with his instincts, 
and since these are selfish and crude they do not fit an individual 
to live in the civilized life of to-day. In order to raise spon- 
taneous attention from the sensory, individual, often selfish level 
to the level of the intellectual, the social, the ideal, forced atten- 
tion is a necessary means to an end. The natural man does not 
look forward to remote ends, nor does he deny himself now that 
he may reap greater benefits later, nor does he suffer individual 
privation in order that the group may profit; that comes only by 
training and involves forced attention. This type of attention 
is necessary, then, . . . for development ... as a means to the 
end of spontaneous attention; instead of spontaneous attention 
on the level of the instincts spontaneous attention on the level 
of the greatest and best ideals. This is the aim the teacher 
should have in mind in developing the powers of attention in 
children."^ 

The Nature of Interest 

Interest, as we have seen, is the basis of attention. That is, 
we attend spontaneously to that which has interest for us. In- 
terest may therefore be said to be the dominating motive in all 
learning. 

What interest is. — But what is interest? We have all used 
the word in conversation many times. We have used it, perhaps, 
at different times with different meanings. What do we mean by 
interest when we say that it is the basis of attention? 

Attention and interest cannot be sharply differentiated. They 



^Psychology of Childhood, page 107. 



INTEREST AND ATTENTION 77 

are not separate and distinct; rather they are inseparable. Pos- 
sibly a better definition cannot be given than to say that interest 
is the "feeling side" of attention. It may be likened to a reser- 
voir fed by two springs — one stream rising in the feelings of 
satisfaction and pleasure or of pain, and one in the judgment of 
value. 

The teacher's dependence on interest. — The fact that the 
teacher is almost wholly dependent on interest in effective teach- 
ing may be abundantly Illustrated from our own experience. 
How often, conscious that you ought to do a particular thing, 
have you vainly set yourself to the task because you have no 
interest in it? How often have you found yourself perfectly 
absorbed in a diflScult task because it has for you an immediate 
and profound interest? Without interest there is no spontaneous 
attention; without attention there is no learning. 

Teachers are sometimes exhorted to make the subject in hand 
interesting to their pupils. The injunction is not wholly without 
point. Much more fundamental is it to choose material that 
appeals to the pupils* interests. If lessons are properly chosen 
they will have little need to be made interesting; they will have 
an inherent interest. 



The Appeal to Interest and Attention 

Principles Governing Interest and Attention. — What are 
some of the more important principles that govern interest and 
attention? 

(a) Interests vary with age. The native interests of children 
awaken, gradually attain their maximum, and then decline with 
varying degrees of rapidity, some disappearing within a brief 
period, others persisting for years. Consequently, interests vary 
with age. What will intensely interest a beginner may hold little 
interest for a primary child. Two children, one five, the other 
eight, begged their older sister for a story. Without giving 
thought to her choice she proceeded to tell them the story of 
"The Three Bears." At its close the five-year-old was happy, but 
the eight-year-old was in tears. "I've heard that old story too 
often. Why didn't you tell us a good story?" she sobbed in dis- 
appointment. Similarly the junior will manifest keen interest in 
what is a matter of indifference to a senior. 

In general it may be said that as childhood is left behind, and 
maturity is approached, interests change from the concrete and 
self-centered to the abstract and the ultimate. Interest is to a 



78 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

considerable extent a matter of understanding and experience; 
there can be little interest in what has no point of contact with 
experience or in that which the mind cannot comprehend. En- 
larging experience brings with it the development of new 
interests. 

(&) Interest is conc€7^ned with action. In early and middle 
childhood especially children are much more interested in move- 
ment, in what happens or what is being done, than in the why 
and how of the action. The whole nature of the child craves 
action. This explains his ever-present interest in play: it affords 
him constant and varied activity. The story is of interest to 
children because it is concrete and is concerned with life and 
movement. To devise ways and means of participation by the 
child, to find things for him to do which are within the range 
of his understanding and which seem worthful to him, is to 
guarantee that he will have interest in the lesson. 

(c) Interest and attention require change and variety. This 
principle is closely related to that we have just discussed. 
Variety in action is required. Attention comes in waves, or, as 
James says, "in beats." If consciousness may be likened to a 
stream, we may say that it presents a series of waves. Atten- 
tion cannot be continuously sustained; it comes and goes, and 
with each recurrence it tends to focus on some new aspect of 
the subject. If attention is to be continuously sustained, the 
topic presented must be developed in different ways. The 
teacher's problem is that of providing variety and change with- 
out wandering from the main drive of the lesson. 

It is also to be remembered that there are differences in the 
interests of individuals, and that to gain the interest of all the 
members of a class variety of appeal must be used. Variety in 
teaching method in successive lessons is highly desirable. 

(d) Attention may he gained ty association. In securing 
attention to what is not of imm^ediate interest effective use may 
be made of the principle of association. By this is meant asso- 
ciating that which does not in itself possess immediate interest 
with something in which such interest does exist. As James 
points out, the interest in one object spreads over to the object 
or material with which it is associated. The association may be 
in terms of time, of likeness, of similarity of circumstance, of 
common relation to a third object, or in any of numerous other 
ways that ingenuity m^ay suggest. James gives in effect this 
statement: Begin with a native interest of the pupil. First 
present material that has immediate connection with this. Next, 



INTEREST AND ATTENTION 79 

step by step, connect with these first objects and experiences 
that which you wish to teach. Associate the new with the old 
in some natural and telling way. The two associated objects 
grow, as it were, together; the interesting portion sheds its 
quality over the whole; and thus things not interesting in their 
own right have imparted to them an interest that becomes as 
real and as strong as that used as the starting point.^ 

(e) New interests may te developed. It may readily be seen 
that continued use of the last-named principle will result not 
merely in getting attention temporarily but eventually in the 
development of a new interest. Likewise, that to which volun- 
tary attention is given in time is attended to through spon- 
taneous attention. 

It is an important part of the teacher's task to use native 
interests, which may not be in themselves of permanent worth 
as a means of developing new interests of deep and abiding 
significance. We undertake in religious education to develop in 
our pupils deep and permanent interest in all that has real and 
abiding moral and religious value. This is not an easy under- 
taking. Some people come almost without struggle or effort into 
the possession of the interests and ideals that the Christian 
religion declares to be supreme; by many others these come to 
be possessed only at the price of sustained and strenuous effort. 
Interests and ideals are the warp and woof of character, and 
the perfected Christian character is the result of a long process 
of development in which continuous, persistent effort has a prin- 
cipal place. Is this not the meaning of the apostle's word 
when he says, "In conclusion, brothers, wherever you find any- 
thing true or honorable, righteous or pure, lovable or praise- 
worthy, or if 'virtue' and 'honor' have any meaning, there let 
your thoughts dwell" 7^ 

The Use of Incentives. — What incentives to attention and 
study may we use in religious teaching? In the past various 
forms of competition — for prizes, money, medals, books. Bibles 
— and the giving of rewards — buttons, badges, emblems, and 
participation in picnics or parties — have been common in our 
Sunday schools. Do these have a proper place in efficient reli- 
gious teaching? 

The danger is of appealing to artificial and unworthy motives.' 



1 Cf . Talks to Teachers on Psychology, page 94. 

2 Phil. 4. 8 as translated in The Twentieth Century New Testament. 
* See Chapter IX for a fuller discussion of motives. 



80 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHINd- 

When appeal is made to greed or rivalry, to a selfish desire for 
possession or display or to beat a fellow pupil, the very attitudes 
and ideals we are trying to overcome are nurtured, and those 
we are trying to develop are undermined. It is always to be re- 
membered that we desire interest and attention as means to a 
moral and religious end. When we use means that defeat the 
very end we are after we make a serious mistake. At best the 
interest developed by such means is almost invariably artificial 
and external. The boy who studies his lessen as a means of 
getting a prize is not likely thereby to become interested in the 
lesson. There are incentives that may and, in many cases, 
should be used. As a matter of fact we all require some kind or 
measure of incentive, not only in childhood but all through life. 
"There are multitudes of things to which the adult gives spon- 
taneous attention, not because they are of value in themselves, 
but because of some value attached to them. This must neces- 
sarily be true because of the make-up of human nature."^ 

The Use of Problems in Getting Voluntary Attention. — 

In recent years special emphasis has been placed upon problems 
as means of inciting to effort in learning. This has led to the 
forniulation of what is knov,^n as the "problem method," or the 
"project method." This takes account of the fact that children 
have a native interest in the solution of any problem presented 
to them or in the working out of any project that seems im- 
portant, because their minds are naturally alert, curious, and 
eager to know. The child gives little voluntary attention or 
does little real thinking until he finds himself in a situation in 
which some desire or purpose is thvsrarted. Then he sets himself 
to discover a way out or, we may say, to solve the problem that 
confronts him. In view of this the method offers some problem 
to be solved. While the project is somewhat different from the 
problem it cannot be sharply distinguished. A project "may be 
a problem or a part of a problem or it may embrace problems. 
The more good problems a project affords, the better it is for 
educational purposes." The characteristic feature of the project 
is that it provides something to do or to investigate in the doing 
or investigation of which the knowledge of the pupils may be 



^Psychology of Childhood, Norsworthy and Whitley, page 109. These authors give 
the following suggestions as to choice of incentives: "(1) Choose those natural to the 
chad's stage of development; work with nature, always making use of what is there; 
(2) choose those most natural to the subject to which attention is desired; (3) choose 
those that will appeal to the greatest number ; (4) choose those that are permanent — 
that is, will be found in life situations as well as school situations; (5) choose the 
highest that will work." 



INTEREST AND ATTENTION 81 

organized and new knowledge acquired.^ Of all teaching methods 
the project method offers largest possibilities of connecting in- 
struction with everyday life. During the years of urgent need 
for Armenian and Syrian relief the support of a Syrian orphan 
in Palestine offered a fine project for use in the Sunday school. 
Consider some of the problems that would naturally suggest 
themselves and the opportunity their investigation would afford 
for acquiring important information: Where was our orphan 
born? Is this village in Palestine? How is Palestine related to 
Syria? How was it related in New-Testament times? What 
nationality is our orphan? Is his nationality the same as that of 
the children about whom we read in the New Testament? Why 
do the Jews in Palestine not have their own government? Many 
similar questions would be certain to arise in the pupils' minds, 
and their personal interest in the orphan whom they are help- 
ing to support would make them eager to read and study in 
seeking to answer them. 

Practical Suggestions on Attention 

The Removal of Distractions. — Sunday-school teaching fre- 
quently suffers from distractions and obstacles to attention that 
are wholly unnecessary. It is not too much to say that effective 
teaching is impossible in a class session continually subject to 
interruptions. There are numerous little distractions that are 
within the power of the teacher to remedy, such as a creaking 
door, a rattling window, noisy chairs, an untidy room, an un- 
sightly article of furniture, the passing during the lesson period 
of the envelope for the offering, or the distribution of the story 
papers. The teacher should see to it that all such causes of 
distraction are removed. The offering may be received at the 
beginning of the session and sent to the treasurer's desk. All 
lesson material and papers for distribution likewise should be 
in the teacher's hands before the class period opens, the papers 
not to be distributed until the pupils leave. The aid of others 
may be asked in overcoming mechanical obstacles to attention. 

The teacher has a right to expect the cooperation of the 
officers of the school in securing proper conditions for teaching. 
They should respect the sacredness of the lesson period and 
refrain from interrupting it except in some special emergency. 
The ideal is a separate department, a separate room for each 
department, and a separate classroom for each class above the 
junior grades. Where this is impossible, portable screens may be 



1 Cf. Modern Elementary School Practice, Freeland, page 45 ff. 



82 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

provided, so placed as in some measure to shut out distracting 
sights and sounds. Curtains, hung upon wires, sometimes 
recommended, are seldom advisable. 

Bad ventilation, poor light, a damp atmosphere (very likely 
to be found in a basement room), a bad odor, unsightly walls 
and ceiling, dingy and dirty floors, overcrowding — these are con- 
ditions, all too frequent, which make good teaching impossible. 
Under some conditions it may be necessary to bear patiently some 
of these handicaps. Every effort should be made to provide 
conditions in which better work is possible. 

The Ineffectiveness of Commands. — "Boys, pay attention!" 
is a command not infrequently heard in the Sunday school. At 
other times the teacher may entreat or exhort that attention be 
given. These methods are to be classed with the use of a bell 
or other external means. All such means should be regarded as 
mere makeshifts. Emergencies may arise in which it is neces- 
sary to compel involuntary attention, but it should be clearly 
understood that all such means attract attention to the object 
used or to the teacher instead of to the lesson. What the teacher 
really desires is to get attention to what he is attempting to 
teach, not to himself. The more a teacher asks for attention, the 
less skillful he shows himself to be. 

The Teacher's Attention. — The reason for inattention to the 
lesson is sometimes in the teacher himself. Some peculiarity of 
dress or affectation of manner may serve to distract the atten- 
tion of the pupils. A personal antagonism, real or fancied, or 
apparent slight serves as a serious barrier. 

An inattentive teacher cannot expect to have an attentive 
class. The standard is set and sustained by the teacher. Is 
there any lack of interest on the part of the teacher? Does the 
teacher's attitude indicate that he considers the lesson something 
less than vitally important? If so, he cannot expect to have an 
interested and attentive class. Interest is contagious. Genuine 
enthusiasm is certain to have its influence. Sham or pretense is 
quickly detected. If genuine conviction, thorough interest, and 
profound faith in the truth are indicated by diligent lesson 
preparation, by enthusiasm for his task of teaching, and by 
earnestness and skillfulness in presentation, these qualities will 
go far toward securing and holding the interest and attention of 
the pupils. 

The Training of Attention. — It is a part of the teacher's 



INTEREST AND ATTENTION 83 

responsibility to develop habits of voluntary attention in his 
pupils. It is a mistake to assume that the doctrine of interest 
means that the pupil shall give attention only to those things 
in which he finds pleasure and satisfaction. It is possible for 
emphasis upon interest to be thus misdirected, and without 
doubt some teachers fall into the error of expecting from their 
pupils only that effort which is pleasurable. 

Not infrequently lack of capacity or limited experience will 
explain absence of interest in materials of unquestionable value. 
Often instinctive desires v/ill interfere with the giving of atten- 
tion to material that satisfies more remote and ideal needs. 
There will be times when ideas and ideals of the highest value, 
which cannot be associated with immediate interests, should be 
acquired. Because of these facts it becomes a part of the 
teacher's task to train his pupils in voluntary attention. Most 
pupils can be led to do that which is difiicult and not in itself 
pleasant if they are persuaded that it will result in the ultimate 
enrichment of their lives. 

CONSTBUCTIVE TASK 

1. Observe the teaching in a class where the pupils seem to be 
interested and attentive. Write the reasons why, in your opinion, 
the teacher is able to hold the attention so well. 

2. Make an observation in a class where the pupils seem to 
have little interest. Write what you think to be some of the 
reasons. 

3. Talk with the most uninterested Sunday-school pupil with 
whom you are on intimate terms with the idea of learning from 
him why the teaching does not interest him. 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In ^'Tlie Worker and Work^' series 

1. The necessity of having interest and attention: The Inter- 
mediate y/orker and Work, page 60ff. 

In the library 

1. How to gain attention: Tlie Psycliological Principles of Edu- 
cation, Home, Chapter XXVIII. 

2. Interest: Talks to Teachers, James, Chapters X, XI. 

3. Attention: Talks to Teachers, James, Chapter XI. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE USE OF MOTIVES 

Lack of interest in the Sunday school on the part of its pupils 
is proverbial. This lack of interest is shown in many ways. 
One item of evidence is low average attendance. There are many 
Sunday schools in which the average attendance is less than 
50 per cent of the enrollment. In a large proportion of schools 
it is approximately 60 per cent. A second item is the large 
number of pupils lost to the Sunday school in their early and 
middle teens. This number is distressingly large. Some 
Sunday schools do not succeed in holding more than one third 
of the boys and girls whom they have had as members during 
childhood. Still another item is the general neglect of lesson 
study. Whenever teachers come together in an institute or con- 
ference, one of the questions certain to be asked is "How can I 
get my pupils to study their lessons?" 

Various explanations of the lack of interest of Sunday-school 
pupils may be offered. One of the most important of the real 
reasons has not often been discussed: Teachers have not knoion 
to what motives to appeal to awaken interest. They have not 
known how to teach in ways that make pupils want to attend 
Sunday school. The fact that boys and girls are not interested 
in the Sunday school is more the fault of the school than of its 
pupils. Yet how little study and effort have been invested in a 
deliberate attempt to make the Sunday school interesting to its 
pupils! It is time we began seriously to study the problem of 
effectively motivating our Sunday-school work. 

Motives and Motivation 

What Motives Are. — First, it is important to get a clear idea 
of what the word means. It may be said that a motive is that 
which moves; that which incites to action. This tells us what 
motives do but it does not give us an insight into what motives 
are. "A motive," says Coe, "is anything in a contemplated, not 
yet actualized situation, that renders it attractive and thus stimu- 
lates us to make it actual." Another statement is: "A motive is 

84 



THE USE OF MOTIVES 85 

the sum of one's judgment and feeling as to the meaning and 
values in a situation. It is the sense of duty or desire which 
indorses or prohibits an action."^ 

In common usage the word "motive" has come to be applied to 
anything that may be used as an incentive. Freeland points out 
that this usage tends to limit the word to that which is only of 
immediate interest and attractiveness. He says: "The only 
danger in such usage is found in the tending to ignore the more 
fundamental purposive motives which underlie all school work 
and to assume that the child's endeavor means nothing to him 
beyond the attainment of some specific, immediate goal. In all 
school work there should be as much immediate pleasure as it is 
possible to bring about, and motivation has been a large factor 
in making school tasks less irksome to children. But there 
should also be definite reasons in the child's mind for doing his 
school work well even when there is no immediate motive for it. 
He should learn to work for the more remote motives as well."^ 

The Process of Motivation. — By motivation we mean the 
process of stimulating and developing motives. Merely telling 
the pupil has little effect either in inciting to study an assigned 
lesson or in leading to right conduct. Some influential motive 
for study, for moral action, must be present. Motivation is the 
process of increasing a motive or motives already present or of 
finding and developing motives where none exists. 

(a) Motives root in instinct. As we have seen again and 
again, the inciting causes of action in early childhood and, to a 
considerable extent, later are the instincts and impulses that are 
a part of our original capital in life. These original impulses, 
as they are molded and developed, supplemented and replaced, 
through nurture and growth, furnish very much of the motive 
power of all action and conduct throughout life. Practically all 
motives may be said to have their origin in instinct. While 
motive roots in instinct it is something more than an instinctive 
impulse. 

(l) Motives root in interest. The surest guarantee of atten- 
tion, as we have seen, is a genuine interest. If pupils have 
,an interest in the assigned task they will do their home work; 
;if they are interested in the Sunday school, its sessions, and its 
.activities, they will attend regularly. "Interest," says McMurry, 
"is motive power, and it is as necessary to provide for it in 



i Religious Education in the Church, Cope, page 33. 
^Modern Elementary School Practice, page 8, 



86 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

school work as it is to provide steam in manufacturing." In- 
terest, as well as instinct, is basic in motivation. 

(c) Motives root in satisfaction. We respond instinctively 
to that which gives us satisfaction — that is, a motive may be 
said to be that which leads one to seek pleasure or satisfaction. 
The satisfaction may range all the way from the merely physical 
satisfaction of eating when hungry to the high satisfaction that 
follows an act of real sacrifice for the welfare of another. A 
child of four can hardly be expected to experience satisfaction in 
giving his apple to a less fortunate child who has had no break- 
fast, although he may be persuaded to do so, but a Christian 
man should be able to find real satisfaction in going without his 
dinner, if necessary, to minister to a fellow man who is suffering 
from want. What gives satisfaction depends on age and ex- 
perience and previous teaching. 

Motivation has to do with the instincts, with interests, and 
with the things that are satisfying. The teacher must appeal to 
instinctive impulses but not depend on them alone; he must 
appeal also to the native and acquired interests, meanwhile seek- 
ing to develop the sense of the higher and more ideal moral and 
spiritual needs. 

"Motivation," says Galloway, "consists not in diminishing the 
task but in increasing the motives for performing the task and 
the satisfaction in the result. It does not mean to make tasks 
more easy but to make them more appealing. We must select 
tasks that appeal to present motives and develop motives that 
will meet necessary tasks."^ 

M0TIVATI]N'G OUE SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK 

To what motives may we appeal in our Sunday-school work? 
Our analysis of motive has prepared us to realize that we will 
be helped in answering this question by such other questions 
as these: What are the instincts to which we may appeal in 
moral and religious teaching? What are the dominant interests 
of our pupils, and how may we connect up with these interests? 



1 The Use of Motives in Teaching Morals and Religion, page 60. Consider also the 
following statement by the same author: " The essential work of the teacher in 
motivation is to devise ways to make work, which is really worth while in ways the 
pupil cannot reaUze, seem worth while to the child from his present point of view, in 
order that his powers may be fully enlisted. This is more than the 'doctrine of inter- 
est,' more than getting the 'point of contact' in teaching, more than grading lessons to 
the intellectual capabilities of the pupil — though it certainly involves all of those 
things. It is grading the whole process to the emotional and instinctive development 
of the child." (Article "The Appeal to Motives in Moral and Religious Education," 
in The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools, volume II, page 695.) 



THE USE OF MOTIVES 87 

What are the things of moral and religious significance that 
give them satisfaction? These are the questions that every 
Sunday-school teacher must be continually asking himself in his 
endeavor so to motivate his work as to make it compelling in its 
hold upon his pupils. 

The Problem of Subject Matter. — These questions lead 
directly into the problem of subject matter, or courses of in- 
struction. This problem is sometimes treated as if it were a 
perfectly simple one. Perhaps an offhand remark is made to the 
effect that if the lessons are what they ought to be, children will 
be interested in them, and the whole problem will be solved. But 
the matter cannot be thus easily dismissed. It should be frankly 
stated that often Sunday schools have attempted to use lessons in. 
which it is impossible to interest children. The uniform lessons, 
planned without consideration of the differing interests and 
needs of pupils of the various grades, have made successful 
Sunday-school work vastly more difficult than if graded lessons, 
presenting material for each grade that has been selected because 
it is believed to appeal to the interests and meet the needs of 
the pupils, had been used. It is of first importance in the moti- 
vation of Sunday-school work to use the best available graded 
courses. It should not be thought, however, that when this has 
been done, the problem of motivation has been wholly solved. 
Properly selected lessons are a step in the direction of solution, 
but they do not go the whole way. 

Children do not always know what they need. Their insight 
into what is good for them is often keener than adults are ready 
to acknowledge, but in many instances it is important for the 
teacher to take pains to explain to the pupils why the lessons' 
offered are needed and what are the values that grow out of 
them. The idea that children should be expected to take an. 
interest in lessons chosen for them by others, without any 
explanation of why they are offered, is unreasonable. Children, 
have the sam.e love of freedom as adults possess and they have: 
at least som.e rights that should be recognized. Whenever a new 
course is begun it should be so presented that the pupils will 
feel that they have had some part in its selection. In middle 
and later adolescence, where alternative courses are available, 
the various possibilities should be freely discussed, the values 
of each carefully considered, and the pupils given a part — 
usually the major part — in reaching a decision. The teacher of 
these grades should always bear in mind that it takes much of 



88 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

the satisfaction out of the best course to be robbed of the priyi- 
lege of choosing it. 

Plays and Games. — In the public schools, more especially in 
the kindergarten, a very large use is being made of children's 
interest in play. The kindergarten has sometimes been called a 
play school, and much the larger part of its work is motivated 
by giving it the form of play. In the upper grammar grades in 
the study of geography, for example, instead of requiring the 
pupils to memorize lists of names, locations," descriptions, and 
products, a travel party is organized to visit some far country. 
The entire journey is carried out as a realistic game. The pupils 
read widely, study assigned textbooks, and prepare written re- 
ports; but it is all done as a part of the game, and a high 
degree of interest is maintained throughout the process. The 
same principle may be used in Sunday-school work. The 
geography of Palestine and the travels of Paul should become 
familiar ground to junior boys and girls, and there is no other 
way of accomplishing this result with so little effort as through 
the use of travel games. With older boys and girls the prin- 
ciple may be used in modified form. For example, in teaching 
the lesson on Paul in Antioch (Acts 13. 13-52) to a class of 
boys one was asked to take the part of Paul, another that of 
Barnabas; others represented the rulers of the synagogue, and 
still others Gentiles. The teacher said: "How would you, Paul 
and Barnabas, begin your work in Antioch in order to win Jews 
and Gentiles to Christianity? What would you say to the Jews? 
to the Gentiles? What questions would you Jews, believers in 
the Old Testament, ask of Paul and Barnabas? ^Tiat questions 
would you Gentiles have to ask?" The boys were made to feel 
that this was an assignment that was a real test. They entered 
into the spirit of it, and the session was a live one. When they 
had talked themselves out, the teacher led them in an examina- 
tion of Paul's method and message. 

Tlie Desire for Possession. — How often in observing a little 
child have we seen the desire for possession forcibly expressed! 
It is the same impulse that leads the millionaire to reach out 
aggressively to add to his already overlarge store. The child 
exclaims, "They are my blocks!" and the millionaire talks about 
**??Z2/ factory." The instinct of ownership, the tendency to have 
and to hold, is one of the earliest, most persistent, and most 
compelling of all the instincts. Can it be made use of in moral 
and religious education? It is to be recognized as more or less 



THE USE OP MOTIVES 89 

in opposition to certain social qualities and attributes that it is 
one of our main objects to develop — kindliness, sympathy, and 
the willingness and desire to share with others. It is also true 
that capacity for service depends on one's personal possessions — 
not so much material possessions as intellectual and spiritual. 
Unless one has possessions worth while, there is little that he 
can impart to others. It would seem, therefore, that there is a 
place in our work for appeal to the instinct that finds expression 
in the desire for possession. "It is," say Norsworthy and 
Whitley, "a perfectly legitimate motive and a valuable source of 
power. True, an adjustment is necessary between this nonsocial 
and sometimes antisocial tendency and the social tendencies; but 
this adjustment comes only through much experience and teach- 
ing. Modifications of the first crude tendency come about as the 
child claims possessions of greater and greater value, from the 
physical and material to the spiritual, and as he learns that 
possessions in common are often worth more than those purely 
individual."^ 

The teacher's effort should be to widen the desire for posses- 
sion to include information and knowledge of religious worth, 
principles and ideals, character and personal religion. Gradu- 
ally pupils may be brought to realize that material possessions 
are inferior to spiritual, and to desire the truer riches. 

The desire to know is closely related to the instinct of owner- 
ship. It is so general as to be said to be almost universal. 
Allied to it is the curiosity so commonly manifested in children. 
Both are shown by the tendency of children continually to ask 
questions. Genuine satisfaction results from the realization of 
learning. The Sunday-school teacher as well as the day-school 
teacher may appeal to the desire for knov/ledge. It is his task, 
while satisfying this desire, at the same time to lead his pupils 
to feel that there is more to be learned, that there is a wealth 
of spiritual knowledge to be acquired only by those who are 
diligent seekers after the truth. This is a mark of genius in 
the real teacher. "He alv/ays made us feel," said his pupils of a 
great teacher, "that there was greater knowledge yet to be 
attained." 

Tlie Desire for Advancement and Promotion. — The impulse 
to go forward, to get on with the thing in hand, is strong with 
most children. It is allied to the impulse of leadership. These 



^Psychology of Childhood, page 54. 



90 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

impulses can be used to motivate regular attendance and lesson 
preparation. This is especially true in schools that have well- 
planned systems of promotion from grade to grade and from 
department to department. In the public school the desire to be 
promoted and later to be graduated is one of the strong motives 
actuating many of the pupils in diligent study. Side by side with 
this exists the fsar of failure. These cannot be used in the 
Sunday school to the same extent as in public-school work, but 
they have a certain value that should be recognized. 

liOve, Sympathy, and Understanding. — There are no chil- 
dren anywhere but will respond to love and personal interest. 
The teacher of little children who has a real love for them and 
the teacher of teen-age boys or girls who has a deep and genuine 
interest in them possess one of the most effective means of 
motivating their Sunday-school work. It is the natural and 
normal thing for children to love their teachers, and love has 
wonderful power to motivate tasks that would otherwise be dis- 
tasteful and dull. Every Sunday-school teacher again and again 
should bring himself to this test: Is my personal attitude to my 
pupils all that it ought to be? Am I genuinely interested in 
them? Do I bear their welfare upon my heart? 

Little children expect to see evidences of affection in their 
teachers. Their hearts hunger for love, and they are ever ready 
to respond to it. It is not too much to say that no teacher who 
is less than affectionately devoted to her beginners or primary 
children can fittingly represent to them the loving heavenly 
Father or the Christ who was known as the Friend of little chil- 
dren. 

The statements of teen-age pupils concerning the qualities 
they most desire in their teachers unconsciously reveal what in 
the teacher most influences them. Most frequent in these state- 
ments are personal interest, understanding, sympathy, and con- 
fidence. Anyone who has been intimately associated with boys 
and girls can bear witness that what they refer to in conversa- 
tion are the evidences they have had of the teacher's regard for 
them. One has received some word of commendation, another a 
personal note, a third has had a bit of conversation or a chance 
meeting. That is, they realize that the teacher believes in them, 
in their ability to achieve and to make something of themselves, 
and they respond to this confidence and interest. 

Unresponsiveness, on the other hand, may often be accounted 
for by a feeling on the part of the pupil that the teacher has no 



THE USE OF MOTIVES 91 

personal interest in him. There is danger of this hardening into 
a conviction of incapacity in which the pupil imposes an inhibi- 
tion upon himself that effectively prevents achievement. Pupils 
who have a high personal regard for their teachers will natu- 
rally desire to do the things that will please them. Studying a 
lesson or doing some other assigned task "to please the teacher" 
has sometimes been referred to as less than a high and worthy 
motive. It cannot be so considered in religious education. The 
religious teacher, as we have stated before, stands before the 
pupil in a representative capacity. If his spirit and character 
are what they ought to be, the pupil will have to a greater or less 
extent a conscious realization of this fact. To do what one 
ought to do that one may thereby please the heavenly Father is 
a high and noble motive. We recall Jesus' word: "I do always 
the things that are pleasing to him" (John 8. 29); and again: 
"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accom- 
plish his work" (John 4. 34). The teacher who has a sincere 
Christian love for his pupils and who leads them to realize, as 
he ought readily to be able to do, that his regard for them and 
interest in them is only a faint reflection of the Father's love, 
and who thus awakens in their hearts the motive that actuated 
the Master, has succeeded in the highest sense in the motivation 
of Sunday-school work. 

Social Instincts. — In discussing love as a motive w^e turned 
away from the more individualistic tendencies to the social in- 
stincts. What are some of the other social instincts to which 
we may appeal? Would you say that there is an instinct in 
human nature to make others happy? Is it a source of satis- 
faction to children to relieve cold and hunger and pain? What, 
other than love, are some of the social tendencies manifest in 
our pupils? How may appeal be made to these tendencies? Let 
us keep these questions in mind. We will return to them in a 
later chapter.^ 

We have made only a beginning in seeking to answer the 
questions with which we started out in our discussion. We 
trust enough has been said, however, to make it clear that there 
is an abundant fund of energy in the original instincts and in- 
terests of our pupils to motivate effectively their Sunday-school 
work. Our mistake in the past has been very largely that of 
appealing to adult motives. Forgetting that we were dealing 



iSee Chapter XII. 



92 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

with immature minds, v/e have sought to make appeal to ideal 
motives that we might reasonably expect to be dynamic only in 
those who are intellectually, morally, and religiously mature. 
That is, we have used appeals that in their very nature could 
not be effective because of the pupils' limitations in knowledge, 
experience, and moral and religious development. 



Artificial Motivation 

There are various forms of motivation not yet mentioned- that 
have had more or less place in Sunday-school work in the past. 

Prizes and Rewards. — Formerly prizes were given by many 
schools for regular attendance, for the recitation of a certain 
number of memory texts, and for the bringing of the largest 
number of new pupils. This custom has fallen into disuse. It 
is still common for pins, emblems, and presents at Christmas to 
be given for record attendance and lesson study. Undoubtedly 
if the reward is something that seems of value to the pupil, a 
powerful motive is created. The question is whether the motive 
is one that has a legitimate place in moral and religious educa- 
tion. // there is only one, or a limited numter of awards, appeal 
is made to rivalry, greed, and other selfish attitudes which it is 
the very object of religious teaching to overcome. Thus, while 
certain desirable ends are secured, other higher ends are 
defeated. It is of little value to have a boy in Sunday school if 
the very thing that brings him is developing in him an un- 
christian attitude. It is ever to be remembered that the building 
of Christian character, not the giving of information, is our 
purpose. A well-known modern writer on public-school problems 
says in a recent book, "Better use rewards and secure some 
results in knowledge than to fail utterly in teaching." This does 
not hold for religious education. If rewards stimulate un- 
christian attitudes, we obtain results in knowledge at the cost 
of moral and religious failure. 

Awards Open to All Pupils. — The objection just stated does 
not hold against the use of honors and awards open to all. A 
minimum standard may be agreed upon in lesson study, Bible 
reading, memorization, and written work, all who attain to this 
standard to be given special recognition on promotion day or at 
quarterly intervals. Awards may also be given for regular 
attendance and for punctuality, for systematic giving and church 
attendance. The appeal of awards and honors to most children 



THE USE OF MOTIVES 93 

is considerable, and such incentives have a valid place in reli- 
gious education. At the same time it should be realized that it 
is much better to make the school itself so interesting and helpful 
to the pupils that no artificial motivation will be necessary. 

The Problem That Remains 

When all has been said on ways and means of motivation that 
may be said — and that, of course, is much more than the limita- 
tions of so brief a discussion as this allows — there will still 
remain for every Sunday-school teacher a group of particular 
problems concerning how to motivate the work for the various 
members of his class. After all has been said, the problem of 
motivation is very largely a problem of individual pupils. 

When a teacher talked with a certain mother concerning how 
the interest of her ten-year-old boy might be stimulated, the 
mother said: "I have yet to find the first thing in which William 
manifests any special interest." William is typical of many — 
the large number of people who, without ambition or deep in- 
terest, drift aimlessly through life. Every such pupil presents 
a problem in himself. The only way to solve the problem is for 
the teacher to give himself to a thorough, intense study of that 
particular pupil, seeking to discover the hidden clue, the deep 
root of interest that surely exists. 

Finally, let it be said that in no small degree motivation is a 
matter of contagion. If the teacher is deeply interested in what 
he is teaching, if religion is to him the most vital, valuable, 
interesting thing in the world, his pupils will come to share his 
interest. "Miss Blanchard is so interested in the subject and 
tries so hard to teach us," said a twelve-year-old, "that I would 
be ashamed not to study my lesson." 

CONSTRUCTR^ TASK 

1. Recall your own experience as a Sunday-school pupil: What 
motives were most influential in interesting you in the Sunday 
school? Can you suggest other motives to which appeal might 
have been made? 

2. Talk with one or two pupils who are thoroughly interested 
in their Sunday-school work, seeking to discover the motives that 
are most influential with them. 

3. Talk with two or more successful teachers: To what motives 
do they chiefly appeal in developing an interest in the school? 



94 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

References for Supplementary Reading 

In "TTie Worker and Work'' series 

1. Motives normal to juniors: The Junior Worker and Work, 
pages 100-104. 

In the library 

1. The meaning of motivation: The Motivation of School Work, 
Wilson, Chapter II. 

2. Motivation in Sunday-school teaching: The Use of Motives 
in Teaching Morals and Religion, Galloway, Chapter V. 



CHAPTER X 
THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 

Among the thousands who lost their lives in the battle of Vimy 
Ridge was Captain V. G. Tupper, of the Canadian Scottish Six- 
teenth Battalion. A letter written before the battle to his father 
was later made public. It was what the boys were in the habit 
of calling an "in case" letter — that is, a let+er to be mailed only 
in case of death. We quote in part: 

"I hope you will never have to read [this letter]. If you are 
reading it now you will know that your youngest son 'went 
under' as proud as Punch in the most glorious day of his life. 
I am taking my company 'over the top' for a mile in the biggest 
push that has ever been launched in the world and I trust that 
it is going to be the greatest factor toward peace. 

"Dad, you can't imagine the wonderful feeling. A man thinks 
something like this: 'Well, if I am going to die, this is worth it 
a thousand times.' 

"I don't want any of you dear people to be sorry for me, 
although, of course, you will in a way. You will miss me, but 
you will be proud of me. . . . 

"Good-by, dear father and mother, and all of you. Again I say 
that I am proud to be where I am now." 

What a study in emotion this letter presents! What a wonder- 
ful illustration it is of the power of feeling to inspire courage 
and the spirit of exaltation and heroic sacrifice in a noble cause! 

The Primacy of Feeling 

We find it exceedingly diflacult to define what we mean by the 
feelings. This is in part because the feelings are far more subtle 
and illusive than ideas or action. We know that the word stands 
for the deepest element in human life; that life rests upon and 
is very largely determ-ined by feeling. We know that feeling, 
more than intellect or reason and equally, at least, with volition, 
rules the world. We know that feeling is an ever-present element 
in life; that, indeed, it is coincident with consciousness; and 
that without feeling, if consciousness could exist at all, it would 
be neither attractive nor satisfying. We realize also some- 
thing of the large place that feeling has in our own lives. 

95 



S6 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

Though we cannot frame a satisfactory definition we are con- 
scious of having experienced joy and sorrow; confidence and 
anxiety; assurance and surprise; good will and jealousy; love 
and hate; gratitude and anger; hope and discouragement; 
courage and fear; faith and doubt; and almost countless other 
feelings and emotions. 

There is a wide range in what we are accustomed to speak of 
as feeling, extending all the way from the mere physical sensa- 
tions of cold and hunger to the spiritual emotions of wonder, 
avre, and adoration. It is in this broad sense, in which it covers 
the entire affective life, including the emotions and the senti- 
ments, that we use the term "feeling" in this discussion. 

The Ser\-[ce of Feelixg to RELiGiorsr 

The eminent service that feeling and emotion may render the 
moral and religious life may be realized by weighing such con- 
siderations as these: 

Feeling Gives a Sense of Wortli. — Or, to put it differently, 

the sense of value or of importance that we attach to anything 
is a feeling. What seems worth while to us depends quite as 
much on the attitude of our feelings as anything else. Says 
Royce: "If we look for a simpler criterion of what we mean by 
feeling, it seems worth while to point out that by feeling we 
mean simply our present sensitiveness to the value of things in 
so far as these values are directly present to consciousness." 

The significance of this is immediately apparent when we con- 
sider the relation between our sense of values and character. 
What one loves most determines what kind of a man one is. 
What one sets his heart upon determines what one will become. 

Feeling Creates Ideals. — ^"The development of an ideal is 
both an emotional and an intellectual process," says Bagley, "but 
the emotional element is by far the more important. Ideals that 
lack the emotional coloring are simply intellectual propositions 
and have little directive force upon conduct."^ 

Our work of religious education is in no slight degree that of 
creating ideals. We have to develop a love for God as heavenly 
Father and for Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, to build up the 
appreciation of moral principles, the steady purpose of adher- 
ence to moral law, and of loyalty to the good and the true. That 
is to say, our work lies very largely in the realm of feeling. 



1 The Educative Process, page 223. 



THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 97 

Feeling Has Direct Influence Upon Conduct. — "The blind 
faith in the power of ideas," says Ribot, "is in practice an in- 
exhaustible source of illusions and errors. An idea which is only 
an idea, a simple fact of knowledge, produces nothing and does 
nothing; it only acts if it is felt, if it is accompanied by an 
affective state, if it awakens tendencies — that is, motor elements." 
This accords with the statement of Aristotle, who said: "Intel- 
lect possesses no power to move the will. Men do not act either 
nobly or ignobly simply because of their possession of a certain 
fund of information or the lack of it. Nothing is more common 
than to see a learned man exhibit a selfish spirit or an illiterate 
man — illiterate both as respects secular knowledge and theo- 
logical subjects — exemplify a spirit of self-sacrifice." 

The emotions, on the other hand, have within themselves the 
springs of action. Our feelings are constantly driving us into 
action or urging us forward in lines of action in which we are 
already engaged. For evidence we have only to look within; for 
substantiation, only to give ear to the everyday accounts of the 
actions of others. "He was moved to do as he did" — we hear it 
every day — by "loyalty" or "love" or "sympathy" or "fear" or 
"jealousy" or what not — always a feeling or an emotion. 

The feelings not only influence simple action; they give fire 
and force and pov/er of execution. It is enthusiasm, added to 
conviction, that makes a man a power in the world. Lacking 
depth and strength of feeling, no matter how much information 
a man may possess, he is weak and ineffective in action. 

Not infrequently the mistake is made, both by preachers and 
teachers, of assuming that a knowledge of Bible facts and of 
doctrines, of theological statements and of creeds such as are 
contained in the catechism, is what is chiefly required in the 
religious education of pupils. Such knowledge in itself is with- 
out power to influence conduct or nurture religion. Neither 
Bible knowledge nor doctrine, no matter how true or how im- 
portant, vitally affects life or character until, touched Tvith 
emotion, it kindles a fire in the heart. That knowledge is im- 
portant, even a fundamental and necessary element, in religious 
education, we pointed out in our discussion of the purpose of in- 
struction. It now becomes clear that instruction needs to be 
supplemented by the cultivation of such feelings as are of in- 
trinsic religious worth and as will inspire moral and religious 
conduct. Religious education may be represented as a chain, 
incomplete and ineffective if any link is lacking: thus, knowl- 
edge — feeling — action — habit — character. 



98 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

Feeling Is Intimately Related to Religion. — There has 
been much discussion as to what is the main root of religion in 
human nature. By some it has been located in the feelings, and 
by others in the will. Doubtless it is nearer the truth to say 
that religion roots both in the feelings and in the will. What 
is of chief importance for the purpose of our present discussion 
is that the religious life at its highest and best has strong emo- 
tional content. A religion without emotion is pale and color- 
less, without vitality and without power. It comes far short of 
the ideal portrayed in the Psalms and in the Epistles, in the 
lives of the prophets and the apostles. Religious education that 
is to give to the world men and women of eminence in religion 
must give attention to the effective cultivation of the emotional 
life. 

In this connection it is important to note that conversion in 
the case of adults and young people in later adolescence is 
usually, though not invariably, a highly emotional experience. 
Emotion is necessary in order that an individual may break 
away from a habitual mode of behavior and substitute for it new 
and higher modes of behavior. In the case of those who have 
been irreligious and immoral to a marked degree it is especially 
likely to require a profound emotional upheaval to move the will, 
displace the old, iniquitous habits, and set up new trains of 
conduct. 

CULTIVATIOrs" OF THE FeEUNGS 

The Enlarged Task of the Teacher. — Our discussion to this 

point has led us to an enlargement of our conception of the 
teacher's task. We have discussed in earlier chapters teaching 
through personal influence and teaching through instruction. It 
now becomes evident that tJie teacher is aJso to teach through 
the development and training of the pupiVs emotional life. That 
is to say, what is required of the teacher is not merely to set 
a right example and to be efficient in instruction, but also to 
develop those feelings which are of moral and religious signifi- 
cance. It is quite as possible for a teacher to inspire as to in- 
struct. The religious teacher cannot be efficient unless he gives 
attention to the development and training of all those qualities 
or aspects of the pupil's nature which have to do with conduct 
and character. Among these we have to include the feelings as 
exceedingly influential 

It is not to be thought that instruction and the cultivation 
of the feelings are two wholly separate processes. They are in 



THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 99 

some measure interdependent. For the cultivation of the higher 
feelings a background of ideas is necessary. As one has said, 
"Feeling must have a body of ideas to cling to." Or, to use a 
different figure, if we are to think of the emotions as supplying 
the motive power of moral action we may at the same time 
think of the intellectual factor as furnishing the means by 
which its direction is controlled. One of the most powerful of 
the feelings in its influence upon action is sympathy. In itself 
sympathy is neither righteous nor evil. It may lead a man to 
rescue a child from peril or to aid a criminal to escape. Its use 
is controlled by ideas of right and wrong. Again, we sometimes 
speak of certain ideas as having a feeling value, by which we 
mean that they are themselves effective in awakening feeling and 
sentiment. Instruction and the cultivation of the feelings be- 
come a single process in furnishing the mind with those moral 
principles which will direct the emotions to righteous ends in 
conduct and with those ideas which have power to inspire ideals 
and to deepen moral and religious feelings and attitudes. 

As commonly used, instruction has to do primarily with the 
intellectual aim in education. Thinking of it in this sense, we 
emphasize the statement that it is also the teacher's function to 
teach through the cultivation of the feelings. In religious educa- 
tion this element in the teacher's work is not less important than 
instruction. "At least the half, and perhaps the better half of 
education," says Payne, "consists in the formation of right 
feelings. He who teaches us to look out upon the world through 
eyes of affection, sympathy, charity, and good will has done more 
for us and for society than he who may have taught us the 
seven liberal arts." 

A Well-Rounded Character. — Since the major part of this 
textbook is concerned with the technique of instruction, a word 
of caution concerning overemphasis upon the emotional element 
in religion would seem scarcely necessary. Our plea for the 
cultivation of the feelings is wholly in the interest of the develop- 
ment of a well-rounded Christian character in our pupils. It is 
a pity that in some quarters feeling has been given so pre- 
dominant a place in religion, with the result of excesses and 
irrational talk and conduct, that the proper value of emotion 
has been popularly lost sight of. Without question there are 
not a few who have been led to discountenance all emotion in 
religion. This extreme is almost as unfortunate as its opposite. 
Religion deprived of emotion Invariably tends to become a mere 



100 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

form. Contrariwise, the type of emotional religion whicli scoffs 
at learning is almost sure to lack stability and is likely to be 
inwardly indifferent to the moral law. Religion to be whole 
must be grounded in intelligence and in will as well as in 
emotion. The overstressing of emotion in religious education, 
to the neglect of instruction and training in conduct, is certain 
to result in developing weak sentimentalists — persons who 
possess much feeling but who lack control and power to achieve 
— or impulsivists, who are quick to speak and act but who 
quickly suffer defeat in the face of any obstacle or diflSculty. 

"What Feelings Are of Most Worth? — What are the feelings 
that are most important from the standpoint of moral and 
religious education? This question implies that not all phases 
of the emotional life stand in the same relation of intimacy and 
influence to moral conduct and religion. To be anywhere near 
complete a list of the feelings, emotions, and sentiments would 
be of considerable length. Without attempting any formal 
classification — a matter upon which psychologists are by no 
means agreed — it may be said that these fall into various groups 
upon the basis of their influence upon life and character. There 
are, for example, certain feelings that seem to operate as an 
inner re-creative influence. These, sometimes referred to as the 
aesthetic emotions, are especially susceptible of stimulation by 
literature and by music and other arts. Again, there are certain 
emotions that affect the inner life of the individual but which 
also directly affect one's relations to others. These may be 
called the social emotions. They are such as sympathy, pride, 
jealousy, ambition, and anger. Yet again, there are certain 
emotions that are of special significance in their relation to 
Christian life and character. Recall in this connection Paul's 
statement concerning the fruit of the Spirit (Gal, 5. 22). What 
other feelings not named in this verse should be included in this 
third list? Burton and Mathews, in an important discussion of 
this general subject, suggest the following as of especial impor- 
tance for the religious life: Reverence, adoration, love, penitence, 
aspiration, hope.^ Hartshorne says: "The Christian attitudes 
suitable to children from the first to the eighth grades (and, 
indeed, when properly defined, for other ages as well) might be 
summed up under the rubrics gratitude, good will, reverence, 
faith, and loyalty."^ 



^Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School, page 18-5, 
» Worship in the Sunday School, page 50- 



THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 101 

The Method of Cultivation. — Of first importance is the 
recognition of two principles, intimately related: First, iTie 
emotional life rests upon an instinctive basis; second, appeal to 
the feeli7igs must de cUie/iy J)y indirect means. 

Our pupils respond emotionally not by choice of will but by 
instinct. The response in laughter or in tears, in approbation or 
in anger, is instantaneous. No pupil ever stops to think whether 
he will applaud an utterance he hears or whether he will be- 
come indignant over it. In view of this it is a waste of time 
to exhort our pupils in a particular situation to be reverent or 
thankful or joyful. Desired feelings do not come at command, 
either of the teacher or of the pupil himself. Have you not 
more than once noticed a sensitive child burst into tears when 
sharply bidden by teacher or parent to smile? Why did the tears 
come instead of laughter? Because grief, not joy, is the in- 
stinctive response of a sensitive nature to rebuke or sharp com- 
mand. Just as it is time wasted to talk to a class of juniors 
about the interest they ought to have in their lesson, so is it a 
waste of time to urge pupils to show proper feelings. Create the 
necessary conditions, and the response will be instinctive and 
certain. 

It thus becomes evident that atmosphere and environment 
must he largely relied upon in the cultivation of the feelings. 
A recent writer, thinking of religious education in terms of the 
development of the emotional life, declares that the power of 
the Sunday school is nine tenths in its atmosphere and the per- 
sonality of the teacher. This is not overstated, and to it should 
be added this other consideration — that the personality of the 
teacher is a chief element in determining the atmosphere. Upon 
the house where he was born Pasteur placed a memorial tablet 
with this inscription: "0 my father and mother, who lived so 
simply in this tiny house, it is to you that I owe everything! 
Your eager enthusiasm, my mother, you passed on into my life; 
and you, my father, whose life and trade were so toilsome, you 
taught me what patience can accomplish with prolonged effort. 
It is to you that I owe tenacity in daily effort." The words are 
eloquent in their suggestion of an atmosphere capable of creating 
just such a spirit as that of Pasteur. Enthusiasm, patience, 
tenacity — were they not the very qualities that made him the 
world's benefactor? When we have made choice of those spiritual 
qualities which we desire to see reproduced in our pupils, if we 
may make sure that they are constantly manifest in the life of 
home and school, we need have little fear. Nothing is more coa- 



102 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

tagious than feeling. Thinking of the home atmosphere described 
in "The Cotter's Saturday Night," Lynn Harold Hough says: 
"Such homes form the golden chain which binds the world about 
the feet of God. The child reared in a home like this breathes 
in piety as he breathes the air. He does not reach after belief 
as an attainment. He has it as a part of the very structure of 
his life." 

Next to the personality of the oflScers and teachers in creating 
a proper atmosphere should be named such influences as the 
character of the service of worship, the music, the pictures, and 
the general decorative effect of the assembly room and the class- 
room. None of these things should be considered as of slight 
importance. Each is worthy of most careful study as an instru- 
ment of emotional nurture. 

Religious feelings that are to l)e cultivated must find expres- 
sion. The emotional life is developed just as the muscles or the 
intellectual powers — that is, through exercise. .Whenever a feel- 
ing is aroused it seeks to express itself in some way. The task 
of the teacher becomes that of providing suitable means of ex- 
pression. For certain feelings expression in action is required. 
When sympathy is aroused, some means of expressing it through 
a simple gift or act of service is the one absolutely necessary 
thing. Other feelings, such as reverence, adoration, and faith, 
find their natural expression in worship. 

The Service of Worship 

The Meaning of Worsliip. — By worship we mean the attempt 
to enter into fellowship with God. In worship God is the object 
of our attention; we seek to draw near to him and to establish 
intercourse with him. How can we best enter into this intimate 
fellowship with the divine? The chief means are agreed upon 
by all Christians. "It is to be attained by the reading or recita- 
tion of such sentences of Scripture as express in exalted and 
poetic language the adoration of those clear-sighted and reverent 
souls who have gained a vision of God; by the singing of hymns 
in which godly men and women have sought to express the 
emotions of their souls; and by prayer ... in which the hearts 
of all shall be lifted to God together. Such reverent and . . . 
solemn bringing before the mind of the thought of God is calcu- 
lated as is no other means to call forth and develop our religious 
emotions. When in an atmosphere ... of elevated and sincere 
praise we gain a vision of God as the Almighty, the ever-loving, 



THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS PEELING 103 

perfect in holiness and boundless in mercy, then our hearts 
learn to revere, to adore, to love."^ 

The Teacher and the Service of Worship. — There is a 
place for worship as a part of the class session, and this will not 
be overlooked by the earnest teacher. Training in prayer 
in later childhood and early adolescence as a rule can be more 
effectively accomplished in the smaller and more intimate circle 
of the class than in the department session or the general 
assembly. The value of class prayers and the use of class hymns 
should also "be recognized. 

The service of worship figures even more prominently in the 
larger assembly of the department and in the general assembly 
of the school as a whole when such is held. As these services 
are under the direction of the departmental and general super- 
intendents, the teacher is not primarily responsible for them. 
Nevertheless, since they are so intimately related to the nurture 
of the religious life of the pupils, the teacher's influence should 
be used to make them what they ought to be. 

One of the places where the average Sunday school utterly 
fails to measure up to its opportunity is the service of worship. 
Too often the only time that may be devoted to such a service is 
given over to so-called "opening exercises" or "closing exercises," 
which, if not actually disorderly, are almost entirely lacking in 
vital spiritual purpose and devoid of any real spirit of worship. 
Every teacher should have a definite idea of the purpose of the 
service of worship and a v/orthy ideal of what such a service 
should be. As the effectiveness of his work as a religious teacher 
depends in no small measure on the training of his pupils in 
worship, he should regard it as a part of his obligation to them 
to use his influence to the fullest extent possible to create high 
ideals for the service among his fellow workers — the officers and 
other teachers of the school. 

The Lesson for Appreciation 

In addition to the means of developing the emotional life 
already considered there is a method of teacMng which has for 
its principal aim the awakening and development of morally 
significant feelings. This method is known as the lesson for 
appreciation. 

The Purpose of the Appreciation Lesson. — The name of the 
method tells its own story: it is definitely intended to awaken 



Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School, Burton aud Mathews, page 186, 



104 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

and develop power of appreciation and other related feelings of 
moral and religious significance. There are many Bible lessons 
in whicii the element of religious knowledge is slight. They 
offer little basis for teaching in the sense of imparting informa- 
tion. They are not, because of this, to be regarded as unimpor- 
tant, since they may offer the finest possible basis for the culti- 
vation of emotional attitudes that are fundamental in the reli- 
gious life. Take, for example, the twenty-third Psalm. What 
of knowledge content has it that is of religious value? Very 
little, if any. Is it therefore to be considered useless material for 
the purposes of religious teaching? By no means. Consider the 
testimony of Henry Ward B^eecher concerning this, which he 
calls "the nightingale of Psalms": "It has filled the air of the 
whole world with melodious joy. ... It has comforted the noble 
host of the poor. It has sung courage to the army of the dis- 
appointed. It has poured balm and consolation into the heart 
of the sick, of captives in dungeons, of widows in their pinching 
griefs, of orphans in their loneliness. It has made the dying 
slave freer than his master and consoled those whom, dying, 
he left behind. Nor is its work done. It will go on singing 
through all the generations of time. . . ." All these are pre- 
eminently spiritual values whose importance for religion cannot 
be overestimated. 

Method. — Least of all lesson types can the appreciation lesson 
be reduced to formal plan. The best that can be done is to offer 
a few general suggestions as to its use. The teacher's part may 
be described as a threefold service: 

(a) Ttie teacher should seek to lead the pupils into the 
presence of that which it is desired they should admire. Says 
Strayer: "Read the poem, play the music, expose the picture to 
view, and allow them to do their work." 

(6) The teacher should interpret the lesson, calling attention 
to the most essential points and explaining their meaning. 
Returning, for example, to the twenty-third Psalm, we find in it 
several statements for the proper appreciation of which an 
acquaintance with shepherd life in the East is essential. Take 
the sentence "He leadeth me beside still waters." The running 
streams in the grazing lands of Palestine almost without excep- 
tion dry up during the summer months. The allusion of the 
Psalmist to "still waters" is to unfailing wells. Again, take the 
clause "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death," The hill country of Judah has many deep, narrow, rocky 



THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 105 

gorges, dark and gloomy, with caves in which wild beasts have 
their lair and in which robbers lie in wait. Having walked 
through such a dark and fearsome place, one can readily realize 
how it might be referred to as "the valley of the shadow of 
death." So with a number of other statements of the Psalm — 
the teacher's part is that of interpreter. 

(c) The teacher should create effective associations in connec- 
tion with that which is to le appreciated. This may be done in 
various ways. An English teacher traveling in Canada met a 
shepherd boy in a lonely spot in the northwest. He talked with 
him about his task — his care and love for the sheep. "By the 
way," he said, "there is a Psalm in the Old Testament called the 
Shepherd Psalm. Do you know it?" The boy did not, so the 
teacher repeated it over and over until the boy had learned it by 
heart. "Now," he said, "I want you to say this Psalm every day 
when you start out with your sheep. You can repeat the first 
verse on the thumb and fingers of one hand, and I want you to 
do it this way. Begin with the thumb, and when you come to 
the word *my' grip that finger." The boy promised that he 
would and when he reached home that night he told his father 
the story. Some weeks later, when taking out the sheep, the 
boy was overtaken by a sudden storm. When he was found, 
frozen in the snow, he was tightly gripping the third finger. 

Appreciation, no more than love or any other feeling, can be 
aroused by act of will or compelled by sense of duty. It awakens 
as the spontaneous response of the heart. No amount of urging 
or questioning can call it forth. Rather they are likely to do 
harm by stimulating the expression of an admiration that is not 
really felt. 

Constructive Task 

1. Considering yet again the Sunday school with which you 
are most intimately acquainted: Does there seem to be a con- 
scious effort on the part of the superintendent and the depart- 
mental superintendents to develop religiously significant feelings? 

2. Study the service of worship of a given department (or, if 
there is no departmental session, the service of the general 
assembly), (a) What elements in it are calculated to nurture 
the emotional life of the pupils? (6) Wherein could it be made 
more effective? 

3. Talk with one or more of the teachers in an informal way 
with the object of ascertaining whether the nurture of the 
emotional life is a conscious and definite purpose. 



CHAPTER XI 
TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 

Probably no tendency in children is tSe subject of more fre- 
quent questioning and even complaint and criticism on the part 
of their elders than that of their almost incessant activity. 
"Frank is never quiet except when he is asleep," says the weary 
mother; and the father queries, "Why can't that boy learn to 
walk downstairs like other people, at least occasionally, instead 
of always running or jumping or sliding down the banisters?" 

"Did you ever in your life see such children as that Smith 
bunch?" A nervous neighbor of the family is speaking. "Why, 
they play all the time. They are never still. Look out any hour 
of the day and you are sure to see them on the lawn, in some 
neighbor's yard, or on the street. And the noise they make is 
enough to drive one to distraction." 

"Boys," says the stern president of the board of trustees, "if 
you are going to come to Sunday school you must behave. The 
church is no place to play." 

"Frank," says the day-school teacher, "what would you do if 
you were a teacher with a room full of boys and girls, not one 
of whom knows how to keep still?" 

Activity in the child is instinctive and constant. We cannot 
ignore it. Curtis found that young children cannot sit motionless 
more than thirty seconds; that children of five to ten cannot 
remain passive more than a minute and a half. The fact is that it is 
impossible for children to "sit still." They could not if they would. 
The instinct of activity was placed in the child to be used, not 
to be ignored, condemned, or suppressed. 

The importance of activity in relation to learning is now well 
understood. Probably no principle has been more often reiterated 
in recent years than this: "There can be no impression without 
expression." The child's creative activity is to be thought of as a 
principal factor in his education. Indeed, there are not a few edu- 
cators who contend that this is the chief means in all education 
— that children learn more and are more largely influenced by 
self-activity than in any other way.^ In practice this means 



1 Heread at this point The Pupil, Chapter V. 

106 



TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 107 

that it is not enough for lesson material to be merely presented 
to the pupil. Telling is only one of the several steps in the 
teaching process. The activity of the pupil must be enlisted in 
appropriating the material, in making use of it. In public-school 
teaching expression is secured through retelling the story, 
dramatization, map drawing, answering questions, writing com- 
positions, and various other ways. While these are equally im- 
portant in religious teaching, there are other forms of expres- 
sion more important than any of those named. Certain subjects 
are included in the curriculum of the public schools which are 
comparatively unrelated to life and conduct — for example, algebra 
and physics. These may be "learned" without any form of social 
expression. But religion, more particularly the Christian 
religion, is essentially a matter of personal attitudes and rela- 
tions. It is "a way of life." Its expression is in conduct. It 
may only be learned by being lived. 

The teacher's work cannot be completed within the limits of 
a so-called "lesson period"; it is not complete until the truth has 
been put into practice, until the moral principle has become a 
habit, until the ideal has been transformed into conduct and char- 
acter. Expressional activities are not to be considered something 
additional or supplemental to teaching, the whole of which is 
thought of as comprehended in instruction or telling; they are 
actually a part of the teaching process, as fundamental and in- 
dispensable a part of it as its instruction. Accordingly, just as 
we have previously spoken of teaching through personal asso- 
ciation and teaching through instruction so we may speak of 
teaching through activity. 

It is well to recognize that at this point we come upon one of 
the most prevalent weaknesses in Sunday-school work. Our 
work of instruction often has been poorly done, but we have been 
even less efficient in utilizing the self-activity of our pupils and 
in securing significant expression. Few things are more im- 
portant than that the work of the Sunday school shall be strength- 
ened in this particular. 

Completing the Process of Instruction 

In religious teaching, as in all education, the process of in- 
struction requires for its completion some form of response on 
the part of the pupil. 

Reproducing the Lessoii. — It is the pupil that is being 
taught, not the lesson, and if the pupil is really to possess the 



108 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

lesson he must make it his own by reproducing it in some way. 
The way in which the lesson is to be reproduced will depend on 
the age of the pupil. 

(a) In beginners' classes. — Beginners manifest a tendency to 
move about, to imitate the actions of other members of the group, 
and to play. These activities should not be repressed, but it is 
necessary for the teacher to give direction and guidance to 
them. The fundamental form of activity is play. The chief 
problem is that of directing the play impulse in ways that illus- 
trate and impress the truth of the lesson story. The pre- 
dominance of imagination, imitation, and suggestibility makes it 
easy for the children to play the story. They may also be called 
upon to retell the lesson story. Says Rankin: "Though the chil- 
dren's expression in retelling the story may be crude, there are 
times when it is worth while for them ... to retell them 
verbally and illustrate them with drawings; for only through 
these crude expressions can the child get control of the idea, and 
only so can we know just what impressions the children are 
getting, how to make them clear, and how to raise their ideas 
and ideals to a higher plane."^ 

(6) In primary classes. — The children will delight to retell 
the lesson story. With a little encouragement even the hesitant 
and unexpressive pupil will respond. The story becomes in- 
creasingly real to the child as he proceeds to tell it: he becomes 
the actor, shares his feelings, and is influenced by his motives 
and purposes. Primary pupils will also readily attempt to retell 
the story in a picture. What matters it if the drawing is crude 
and inartistic? You are not teaching drawing but a religious 
lesson. The effort to represent the idea through the fingers gives 
it an opportunity to take hold upon the mind and heart. The 
drawing may be with pencil or crayon on pads or sheets of 
paper or on the blackboard. Two or three pupils may join in 
making the picture. This is more likely to interest the whole 
class than when only one child makes the drawing. In both 
beginners' and primary classes the reproduction of the story 
should be on the Sunday following its first presentation, pro- 
vision for it being made in the early part of the hour. 

(c) In junior classes. — Retelling the story is still significant. 
Written work is possible on a larger scale. Some form of 
written account of the facts learned should be required. Various 
forms of handwork, such as making relief maps in sand or pulp, 



1 A Course for Beginners in Religious Education, page 16. 



TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 109 

dressing dolls to represent the actors in the story, etc., find their 
largest usefulness with the juniors. 

id) In intermediate classes. — Handwork has its place in 
teaching intermediates, but it must be on a plane of dignity and 
importance such as to appeal to them. They despise being asked 
to do the same things as the "little kids." Pupils may be asked 
to write a story illustrating some teaching of the lesson, to 
supply original illustrations from observation and reading, and 
to supply associations. The skillful teacher watches the un- 
responsive or mischievous pupil to discover his bit of knowledge 
and tries tactfully to get him to explain the point to those who 
do not have his knowledge of it. 

(e) In senior, young people's, and adult classes. — Written 
reports, essays, and debates now become possible. There is 
opportunity for a great deal of ingenuity in devising forms of 
expression. Principal dependence, as a rule, must be placed 
upon questioning. Do not be satisfied with a perfectly obvious 
answer. Find out what lies behind the statement in the person's 
mind. One may answer any number of questions in the words of 
the lesson yet have no real understanding of what the words 
mean or of their application to life. 

The Use of Dramatization. — Simple dramatization is one of 
the most effective means of making real the feelings and atti- 
tudes that it is desired to inculcate in teaching many Bible 
lessons. In taking the part of a Bible character the pupil tends 
actually to become that character, to relive his experience, feel 
as he felt, be moved by the motives by which he was moved, and 
attain the goal that he sought to attain. How real and meaning- 
ful a Bible story may become when dramatized is shown by the 
case of a junior boy who took the part of the good Samaritan. 
When he came to the point of binding up the wounds of the man 
who had fallen among thieves, he entered so completely into the 
experience that, in the words of the teacher who tells of the 
incident, he fairly shouted: "Oh, where are some bandages to 
put on the man?" and before the teacher realized what he was 
doing, he had torn the sleeve from his shirt and was energetic- 
ally bandaging the wounded man. The mother of the boy was 
right in her estimate of the incident. When the perturbed 
teacher told her what had happened, she said: "Never mind 
about the shirt; I would be willing to buy a new one every week 
if necessary, for I know that the lesson of the good Samaritan 
will stay with Robert forever." 



110 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

The teacher's problem in teaching biography is to make the 
character who is being studied live. Even in the hero-loving age 
the boy has little interest in dead heroes. He is likely to have 
much the same feeling about them as was expressed by Huckle- 
berry Finn: "After supper she got out her book and learned me 
about Moses and the bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out 
all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been 
dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more 
about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people." But 
if a boy can be helped to relive the experience of a great Bible 
character by representing him in some concrete situation, his 
hero is brought out of the dead past into the living present, and 
his motives and purposes are given power to reproduce them- 
selves in a new life. Whether one is teaching the life of Moses, 
of Joshua, of Samuel, of David, or of Paul, there are frequent 
opportunities of reproducing significant situations in simple 
dramatic form.^ 

ExPBESsioxAL Activities of the Hand 

The term "handwork" may be used in referring to any form 
of expression through the constructive activities of the hand. 
As Patterson Du Bois says, "It is a way of letting the pupil think 
himself into knowledge through the hand." In behalf of hand- 
work in the Sunday school Cope says: "It is the natural way of 
education through self-activity; it involves self-expression, upon 
which the value of all impression depends; it enlists a large 
proportion of the child's whole life; it follows the laws of his 
developing nature, his desire to do, to create; it accords with 
the play spirit, which is really only the creation spirit; it 
secures cooperation by the v/hole class, teaching pupils to 
work with others, developing the social spirit; it never fails to 
secure interest, the basis of attention; it removes religion from 
the realm of the abstract and unreal to the practical, concrete, 
and close at hand; it coordinates the work of the Sunday school 
with that of the day school, tending to make the pupil's educa- 
tion unitary."^ 

Forms of Handwork. — There are certain more or less well- 
defined forms or kinds of handwork. Of these the following are 
the more important: 



1 For further study see The Dramatization of Bible Stories, Miller. 

2 The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task, page 116. 



TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 111 

(a) Picture work. — This includes free drawing with colored 
crayons; coloring pictures or mounting pictures that illustrate 
the lesson story; cutting from outlines; making Christmas or 
Easter cards from ready-made materials; coloring and illu- 
minating initial letters, borders, and designs; designing decora- 
tions or title pages; and making descriptive drawings to illus- 
trate the lesson story. Children delight in telling the story in 
a picture, and even though the result may be very crude from 
an artistic standpoint it is of real significance. The making of 
the picture tends to impress the truth indelibly upon the mind. 

(&) Map work. — There are various useful forms of map work. 
The simplest is tracing or coloring outline maps. Next is simple 
map drawing. The modeling of relief maps in sand, clay, 
plasticine, or pulp is one of the most effective means of impress- 
ing the topography of a land and the location of its rivers, hills, 
and mountains. 

(c) Constructive work. — Many forms of construction may be 
related to Bible lessons. Models of weapons, tools, furniture, 
houses, a sheepfold, well curb and trough, a tent — even of the 
tabernacle and of the Tem^ple — may be made. Such work often 
serves as a stimulus to original study, including searching the 
Bible and books of reference for exact information. 

(d) Writing and notebook work. — Writing is much used in the 
public school from the second grade on. It is equally valuable 
in religious teaching as a means of fixing impressions. A be- 
ginning may be made by copying the memory verses and writing 
the answers to simple questions. In the more advanced grades 
stories may be rewritten, answers to questions recorded, and 
biographies of Bible characters prepared. In an upper inter- 
mediate or a senior class the making of a harmony of the 
Gospels is exceedingly helpful. In these grades it is important 
for a permanent notebook to be kept. 

Some Guiding Principles. — Handwork may profitably be 
made the subject of extended study by teachers. Here it is 
possible only to state briefly two or three guiding principles: 

(a) Handwork should represent free expression on the part 
of the pupil. Its value is lessened if it is done at the behest of 
the teacher, or if it is necessary for the teacher to suggest the 
exact form it should take. The problem is to stimulate the 
pupil's initiative and at the same time insure that what is done 
is an expression of the lesson truth. 

(&) Handwork sJiould le tested 'by its relation to the purpose 



112 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

of the lesson. The excellence of the production as a work of art 
is not at all the test. Rather the teacher should ask such ques- 
tions as these: Does it teach a lesson fact? Does it deepen the 
impression of a lesson truth? Does it relate the lesson to life 
in such a way that the pupil will be helped to carry over the 
lesson into conduct? Without doubt some teachers in their 
enthusiasm for the new and novel have introduced specific forms 
of handwork into their classes that have been utterly devoid of 
religious significance. 

(c) Handwork sliould not 'be 'permitted to hecome merely 
"tusy work." There are times when "busy work" is useful, but 
it should not be confused with handwork. It is easy for the 
spiritual aim to be lost sight of, and both teacher and pupils to 
concern themselves entirely with the materials — crayons, paper, 
scissors, paste, etc. For this to happen is a misfortune. 

(d) Handwork should te given only its proper time and place. 
In the beginners' and primary grades a brief period within the 
Sunday session may be allotted to it. In the senior and higher 
grades it should be done during the week or on Sunday at some 
other hour than that of the Sunday-school session. Baldwin 
makes the following practical suggestions: "It may be planned 
for in one of four ways: (1) The teacher of each class may meet 
with the class for this purpose at her own home, the home of 
one of the pupils, or the Sunday-school building. (2) The super- 
intendent of the department or someone appointed to have charge 
of the manual work may meet all the pupils at some given time, 
assisted by as many of the teachers as can give their services. 

(3) Special instructors may be appointed to conduct classes in 
geography, hymn illustration, and modeling during the week. 

(4) The handwork may be done in the regular session for week- 
day religious instruction."^ 

EXPRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES OF SERVICE 

Expressional activities reach their highest level of religious 
significance in terms of the service of others. The final interpre- 
tation of the gospel is a life of service. When we have prepared 
our pupils to go out into the walks of daily life, and, according 
to the measure of their ability, repeat the life and works of 
Christ in living for and serving others, we have truly taught 
them the gospel. If our instruction falls short of actually pro- 



Tlie Junior Worker and Work, page 96. 



TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 113 

ducing Christians who serve — ^habitually, purposefully, efficiently 
— it fails of being fully Christian. There is only one way for the 
Sunday school to succeed in producing such Christians, and that 
is persistently and systematically to train its pupils in service. 
This can be accomplished only by a definite service program. 

Planning the Program. — Certain fundamental principles 
must be kept in mind: 

(a) The program should de graded. Possible activities should 
be suggested for pupils of all departments and grades. These 
should be listed in orderly and progressive sequence. Pupils 
should not be encouraged to undertake activities that are beyond 
their years. In general it is best for little children to do things 
for those of their own age; for young people to help other young 
people. 

(6) The program should he largely determined hy the needs 
of the community. An artificial or ready-made program is 
doomed to failure. It would be impossible to devise a program 
suited to all schools. The program in each individual Sunday 
school must grow out of local conditions and needs and the oppor- 
tunities and capacities of those who are to carry it out. The 
first question to be asked is, What are the unmet needs of the 
community to which this Sunday school may minister? There 
are of course certain needs common to all communities. Every- 
where there are those who are sick or aged or infirm or crippled 
to be ministered to. There are overburdened mothers and 
neglected little ones and those who are for one reason or another 
unfortunate. 

(c) The program should reach out "beyond the local com- 
munity. Provision for service should begin at home but should 
not end there. To think in terms of one's local community only 
is to become narrow and provincial. It is the glory of Christian- 
ity that it knows no boundaries of neighborhood, nation, or race. 
To stop short of world service is to be something less than fully 
Christian. 

(d) Activities should he spontaneous. Service activities have 
little value for the pupils unless they are the pupils' own. That 
which they do at the behest of others is robbed of half its value. 
Although the needs should be carefully listed, freedom of choice 
should be assured the pupils. 

Suggested Program for an Intermediate Department. — 

As a means of suggesting that the average church situation 
affords abundant opportunity for a program of service the fol- 



114 



PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 



lowing program for a particular department, most of whose 
provisions are applicable to any community, is presented: 



Local School and Church 

Visit members of depart- 
ment who are ill. 

Make chairs and tables 
for Beginners' and 
Primary Departments. 

Act as doorkeepers. 

Act as ushers. 

Act as messengers for 
church office. 

Distribute announce- 
ments of Sunday serv- 
ice. 

Assist on playground. 

Visit shut-ins of Home 
Department with 
Home-Department vis- 
itor and sing for them. 

Help at party for Begin- 
ners' Department. 

Sing in choir. 

Distribute songbooks. 

Raise flowers to decorate 
the church during sum- 
mer and fall. 

Prepare posters for bul- 
letin board. 

Help superintendent and 
teacher care for depart- 
ment room and class- 
rooms. 

Prepare Christmas box 
for poor family. 

Prepare Christmas tree 
for sick child or poor 
child. 



Community 

Make scrapbooks for chil- 
dren's hospital. 

Make fireless cookers for 
poor famihes. 

Make popcorn balls for 
orphans' home. 

Cut firewood for Tvidow. 

Take weekly turns in 
doing chores for aged 
woman. 

Share magazines with 
boys who have none. 

Contribute money to or- 
phanages, hospitals, etc. 

Make bedroom sHppers 
for home for crippled 
children. 

Collect clothing for dis- 
tribution through asso- 
ciated charities or other 
agency. 

Subscribe for magazines 
for orphans' home, or for 
crippled child. 

Collect magazines and 
pictures for orphans' 
home, children's hos- 
pital, or county infirm- 
ary. 

Can fruit for old people's 
home. 

JMake jelly for hospital. 

Promote "clean-up week" 
— backyards, alleys, va- 
cant lots, etc. 

Help on "clean streets" 
program. 



The Larger World 

Provide outing for chil- 
dren from the city. 

Contribute money to for- 
eign reUef. 

Contribute money to give 
rnifision boy an educa- 
tion in a Christian 
school. 

Contribute tuition and 
clothing for pupil in 
mountaineer or freed- 
men's school. 

Make kodak pictures for 
use on mission field. 

Collect unused Sunday- 
school supphes for mis- 
sion field. 

Pro-vide library for fron- 
tier Simday school. 

Make dolls and puzzles 
to include in a home 
mission box. 

Carry out "salvage cam- 
p a i g n" — gathering 
waste and selling it to 
aid renef. 

Join the Red Cross and 
take definite part in 
its activities. 



Similar schedules might readily be prepared for each of the 
other departments of the school. 



Constructive Task 

1. Considering yet again the Sunday school you know best: 
What systematic effort is made to make use of the activities of 
the pupils? Be specific in your answer. 

2. Observe a junior or intermediate class during a school 
session: (a) Were the pupils passive or active? What did they 
do? Describe fully, (ft) What ways can you suggest of utilizing 
the activity of these pupils? 

3. Talk with a superintendent in whose school or with a 
teacher in whose class handwork is being successfully used. 
Find out all you can about the methods used. 

4. Prepare a practical program of activities for a particular 



TEACHING THROUGH ACTIVITY 115 

Junior Department. Be sure that you can justify every item you 
put into it. 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In ''The Worker and His Work" series 

1. Connecting truth with life: The Junior Worker and Work, 
Chapter XVI. 

2. The higher forms of expression: The Intermediate Worker 
and Work, Chapter IX. 

3. Materials and forms of handwork for primary pupils: The 
Primary Worker and Work, Chapter XIV. 

In the lidrary 

1. Expressional activities: Religious Training in the School 
and the Home, Sneath-Hodges-Tweedy, Chapter XVII. 

2. Types of handwork: Handwoj^k in the Sunday School, Little- 
field, Chapter II. 

3. Neglected aspects of manual work: Efficiency in the Sunday 
School, Cope, Chapter XVII. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE CLASS AS A SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL LIVING 

Two children were talking about the Sunday schools they 
attended. One said: "My teacher tells us everything. I think 
we shall soon know all there is to be known about the Bible." 
The other replied thoughtfully: "We are learning a lot in our 
class, too. Most of all I think we are learning how to live 
together as God's children." 

We might very well take the child's statement as a definition 
of the ideal class: It is a place wTiere tJie pupils are learning to 
live together as Ood's children. 

One of the most significant developments in general education 
in recent years has been the increasing emphasis upon education 
as life — upon the school as a place where the child gets experi- 
ence in living with others, receiving from them and consciously 
and willfully making his contribution to the common welfare. The 
change that has taken place is thus illustrated by Dewey: "Some 
few years ago I was looking about the school supply stores in 
the city, trying to find desks and chairs which seemed thoroughly 
suitable from all points of view ... to the needs of the chil- 
dren. We had a great deal of difficulty in finding what we 
needed, and finally one dealer made this remark: *I am afraid 
we have not what you want. You want something at which the 
children may work; these are all for listening.'"^ The author 
comments upon this remark: "That tells the story of the tradi- 
tional education. ... It is all .. . 'listening.* . . . The attitude 
of listening means, comparatively speaking, passivity, absorp- 
tion; . . . the child is to take in as much as possible in the least 
possible time. ... It would be most desirable for the school to 
be a place in which the child should really live and get a life 
experience in which he should delight and find meaning for its 
own sake." 

The Social Aim in Religious Education 

This emphasis is as much needed in religious education as in 
general education. The Christian religion is Jesus' way of life, 



1 The School and Society, page 31. 

116 



A SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL LIVING 117 

and Christian education is learning to live as Jesus lived. This 
point of view does not by any means exclude instruction but it 
does lay a proper emphasis upon practice. All that has been said 
earlier in our discussion concerning the importance of instruc- 
tion and methods of instruction is in place, but it is likewise of 
importance to think of the Sunday school as a place where our 
pupils live together as God's children — disciples of the Master, 
learning his way of life by actual practice. 

Doing the Work of the Home. — This is the more necessary 
because too many of our Sunday-school pupils come from homes 
where they receive no training in the social attitudes. Says 
Hartshorne, "We may tell those children stories of love and 
friendship and helpfulness for an hour on Sunday; but if they 
get nothing but blows and toil and loneliness all the week, what 
is the use?"^ 

More than mere telling is involved in training in social living. 
First of all, it is necessary to provide an atmosphere in which 
love and kindness and sympathy may live and grow — an environ- 
ment that will itself naturally prompt these attitudes. The 
ideal Christian home does just this. The larger community life 
under ideal Christian conditions does it. Where the home and 
the community do not thus minister to the child, it becomes 
incum.bent upon the Sunday school to take their place. To quote 
Hartshorne further at this point: "We may find ourselves as 
teachers frequently obliged to be a Christian community for the 
child and to provide in our ov/n persons a constant source of 
stimulation for the sort of action we desire to have become 
habitual in those whom we teach." When the proper environ- 
ment has been created, it next becomes necessary to lead the 
pupils to the expression of social feelings and attitudes in con- 
crete ways. Children and young people learn social living by 
actually doing things for one another and together as a group 
for others. 

The School as a Social Unit. — The school as a whole is to 
be thought of as a social institution and should be organized and 
conducted as such. It thus becomes a Christian community. It 
is not to withdraw itself from the larger community of whiclj 
its members are a part or to be indifferent to any of the interests 
of the larger community, but no small part of its services in 
making the larger community Christian v/ill be accomplished by 
making itself a truly Christian community. Through the train- 



' Childhood and Character, page 162. 



118 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

ing that it provides it will prepare its members for efficient 
cooperation in all of the duties and responsibilities of community- 
life. This is made possible since the school as a whole is an 
almost exact replica of the larger community. In the average 
Sunday school, just as in the average American community, are 
to be found old and young, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, 
employers and employees. Occasionally the school should meet 
together in a common assembly in order to foster a conscious- 
ness of unity and solidarity and common feelings of joy and 
gratitude and sympathy. The great festivals of the Christian 
year — Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving — afford the best 
opportunity for such meetings. Certain projects also may be 
undertaken by the school as a whole school — for example, the 
support of an orphan in a Christian mission school for which a 
certain definite amount shall be appropriated from the school 
treasury. Occasionally, also, the school may participate in some 
interschool event, such as a picnic of all the Sunday schools of a 
community. 

The Class as the Unit of Training. — The larger opportunity 
for training is offered, however, by the department and the 
class. The school thus becomes a group of smaller organized 
groups cooperating for common social ends. 

Each class should have certain specific objects of its own. A 
group of young men in a city church took for its name "The 
Friendly Class." One of its objects was to find each week some 
young man who was a stranger in the city, invite him to the 
class session, make him feel at home, take him to dinner at the 
home of one of the members, give him a pleasant Sunday after- 
noon, and get his promise to become a member of some Sunday 
school in the city. A class of women each year makes it possible 
for some young girl to continue in school who without their help 
would be obliged to leave school and go to work. A class of young 
women founded and have maintained for several years in a 
downtown section a kindergarten for children of working 
mothers. The number of objects that may serve as goals of class 
activity are unlimited. In working together for some such com- 
mon object the members of the class get a training in cooperation 
that is invaluable. At the same time they learn to deny them- 
selves selfish pleasure for the sake of the good of others. The 
social feelings are given expression and through habit actually 
enter into the determination of character. 

A further training in cooperation is given through a depart- 



A SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL LIVING 119 

ment as a whole working together for some common object. As 
a rule this should be group cooperation — that is, the several 
classes should work together as groups rather than as indi- 
viduals. An Intermediate Department of one school undertook 
the preparation of a missionary box. One class of girls gave 
dolls; another furnished picture cards; a third girls' class made 
scrapbooks; a boys' class furnished homemade toys; another, 
pennants and other decorations for a boy's room. In another 
school the Junior Department collected Sunday-school papers and 
picture cards to be sent to the Philippines. Each class was 
given a certain section of the town to canvass. 

One of the finest opportunities for the development of social 
attitudes is offered through play. It is important to choose for 
most frequent use games that involve team play. "A team game 
is a game that is played with a team spirit for a social victory." 
Boys and girls who learn how to play team games with good 
spirit and success are developing qualities of character that will 
immensely enhance their future service to society. 

The Teacher's Part. — Making the class a real school for 
social living tests the social spirit of the teacher. One cannot 
do it unless he has himself learned how to subordinate self and 
to think first of others. He must necessarily think of himself 
simply as one member of a group who are all working together 
for a common end. The teacher who succeeds here will be one 
who is democratic in spirit and who is able to obey the injunc- 
tion of Froebel: 'Tome, let us live with our children." He will 
find constant necessity for patience and tact and for all the 
wisdom he can command. 

Method of Instruction 

What will be the effect of the social motive on teaching 
method? The teacher who makes his class a school for social 
living will still be an instructor. How will this aim modify his 
teaching practice? 

The Recitation. — The first effect of making the social aim 
dominant will be a change in the recitation. Instead of a 
process in which the teacher talks continuously, or in which the 
pupils answer a series of questions asked by the teacher, the 
recitation becomes a process in which all take an active part. 
The teacher plans for contributions from all members of the 
class, who in turn are led to think of themselves as members of 
a group, all of whom are working together for thQ realization of 



120 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

some purpose or end previously agreed upon. Says Dewey: "The 
recitation becomes preeminently a social meeting place; it is to 
the school what the spontaneous conversation is to the home, 
excepting that it is more organized, following definite lines. The 
recitation becomes the social clearing house, where experiences 
and ideas are exchanged and subjected to criticism, where mis- 
conceptions are corrected, and new lines of thought and inquiry 
are set up."^ 

Why should not interest and activity be as intense in the 
class session as upon the playground? Why should not boys and 
girls question one another and offer their opinions and judg- 
ments with as much zest in considering a problem in the class- 
room as in discussing a game or a party? They will do so if the; 
problem under consideration is their own. 

Social-Project Metliod. — The social aim in education has led 
to wide interest in what is known as the social-project method of 
teaching. As an example of this method take a project used at 
the Latona Public School, Seattle, Washington. For some time 
before Christmas the work of the boys centered in the construc- 
tion and sale of various kinds of toys. For one thing they made 
a large number of skatemobiles. They were sold at two dollars 
each. The materials for one cost thirty-five cents. A corporation 
for the sale of the toys was formed, and for arithmetic lessons 
a large number of problems connected with management of the 
corporation and the sale of the toys were worked out. The 
work in English consisted of the preparation of advertisements 
for the sale of the toys and the writing of short stories concern- 
ing the project. For art work the toys were artistically painted 
and advertising posters v/ere made. The entire project afforded 
constant opportunity for training in cooperation. This illustra- 
tion presents the essential features of the project method. It 
may be defined as a form of activity undertaken by a group of 
pupils under the guidance of a teacher in which activity all work 
together for the desired end. It is essential that the project 
shall be one in which all are actively interested. 

Is this method of teaching one that can be largely used in 
religious teaching? Not a few believe that it is. A class of 
young people in a city Sunday school decided to make their work 
for the winter the support of a family in which the father had 
met with a serious accident. Financial responsibility for fuel, 
rent, and food v/as assumed by the class. It was found that the 



^The School and Society, page 48, 



A SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL LIVING 121 

three boys of the family were in bad company, were doing no 
good in school, had no suitable means of recreation, and were 
without reading matter at home. The class set itself to remedy 
these conditions. It was agreed in advance that causes as well 
as means of immediate relief should be discussed. Very soon it 
became apparent that some form of guidance for the class dis- 
cussions was needed, and the class decided to take up the study 
of "The Bible and Social Living" (Ward), Course XV in the 
International Graded Series. The course as a whole was read, 
but each Sunday the discussion grew out of some definite ex- 
perience of some member of the class in being a Christian 
neighbor to this family. 

A project of an entirely different type is suggested by Free- 
land' — namely, making the Lord's Prayer the basis of a year's 
work. "Our Father" suggests a study by the children of their 
own fathers. Let them be observant during the week and 
report at Sunday school some of the things their parents did for 
them. This observation and report might result in the develop- 
ment of new attitudes on the part of the children toward their 
parents. It is probable that it would cause thoughtless children 
to understand and appreciate their parents more as well as make 
the first words of this prayer more meaningful than before. 
"Thy kingdom come, thy v/ill be done" offers wide opportunity 
for action and projects. The pupils might be asked to act 
throughout the week in strict obedience to what they believe to 
be the Lord's will and report difficulties the next Sunday. It 
should be explained that this is the perm^anent attitude of the 
Christian, but that this particular week is one of special thought 
and observation. Such a week of observations would have a 
great influence upon the conduct of children, and the reports 
would afford opportunity for clearing up numerous misconcep- 
tions. In similar manner other clauses of the prayer might ba 
taken up. Many children mumble the Lord's Prayer without 
any real understanding of what they are saying, until it becomes 
almost meaningless to them. There are few classes that would 
not profit by such a project study of this prayer. 

C0NSTRUCTI\TE TaSK 

1. Observe the teaching process in a given class to discover 
the extent of cooperation between the pupils and the teacher. 
Do the pupils enter heartily into the discussion? Is the lesson 



The Sunday School Journal, Volume 51, page 336. 



122 PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 

something that the teacher is trying to "put over," or do the 
pupils seem to regard it as their project? 

2. Make an inquiry to discover how many departments and 
classes have engaged during the past year in some social-service 
activity as a department or class project. Talk with one or 
more teachers concerning what was undertaken. In what ways 
was it successful? What values did the pupils get from it? 
Wherein was it not successful? 

3. Suggest a possible social project for your class in which the 
teaching for at least three months might center. 

References for Supplementary Reading 
In ''The Worker and Work'' series 

1. Christianity demands social expression: Tlie Intermediate 
Worker and Work, Lewis, page 126. 

2. The social instincts and their training: The Senior Worker 
and Work, Lewis, Chapter XIV. 

In the library 

1. The public school a place for living: The School and Society, 
Dewey, Chapter II. 

2. Making over human nature through action: Childhood and 
Character, Hartshorne, page 159 ff. 

3. Learning to cooperate: Missionary Education in Home and 
School, Diffendorfer, Chapter V. 



APPENDIX 

Typical Lesson Plans 

A Lesson in Conduct. — 1 Sam. 7. 3-9 ; Joshua 24. 14-18. 

W. W. Charters 

I usually throw a lesson into seven divisions in the form of 
seven questions. Some of these are not used with every lesson, 
but all of them may be used with almost every lesson. Taking 
the intermediate-senior topic, "The Call to Undivided Alle- 
giance," I shall discuss these questions one by one, illuminating 
the statement of a general method by illustrations from the les- 
son under discussion. 

The topic of this lesson has to do with the ever-recurring daily 
problem of being faithful to God. Our object is to gather facts 
and then to apply them. In this lesson we have two sets of 
passages — one taken from Joshua's farewell address, and the 
other from the account of the Philistine battle at Mizpah. 

Type. Questions 

1, Tell the story of the lesson. — This will draw out tlie 
factual content of the lesson and will give opportunity to note 
the main point — faithfulness and its reward. It may involve 
a silent reading of the passages to get the story or refresh the 
memory. 

2. What is the setting of the lesson? — In answer to this ques- 
tion the student should appreciate that the first part of the les- 
son is part of Joshua's farewell address, that he reviewed the 
history of the Hebrews from the time of Abraham, and that the 
burden of his message was that all through their history God 
had been very good to them. The facts of the setting should, 
whenever possible, be so interpreted as to bring out the main 
point of the events related to the lesson — in this case, faithful- 
ness and its reward, or unfaithfulness and its penalty. The pas- 
sage from Samuel should be treated in a similar manner. 

S. Give other Bible and secular stories about faithfulness to 
God. — We now, with this question, proceed to build the idea 
that the problem of the lesson is a real life problem, which others 

123 



124 APPENDIX 

have met. The gist of the experiences of such are given — acts 
of faithfulness and their reward. 

J/. Give stories from the lives of your friends of faithfulness to 
God. — In this question the problem of the lesson is brought 
nearer to the pupil. At this point it will be necessary for him to 
translate faithfulness into the terms of his own life. In the 
days of the Old Testament faithfulness was concerned with 
worshiping God rather than the gods of the heathen. But we 
have no temples to Baal or Ashtaroth in the year 1920. So the 
query arises, What are the forms of faithfulness to-day? The 
discussion of this point is part of this question. We should 
ask the students to give illustrations of their own faithfulness 
did it not smack of boasting, so we ask for examples from the 
lives of their personal associates. 

5. Give stories of unfaithfulness to God. — This question is 
valuable because it presents contrasts, and contrast is a funda- 
mental method of developing ideals, as the church has recog- 
nized from the beginning. The object in this case is to get 
stories of unfaithfulness and its penalties. Y/ith the older 
students the question of being unfaithful without being punished 
might well be raised. Can one be bad and get by with it? Don't 
people actually do this? And so forth. The important point is 
to make the students see that in their own lives there are many 
cases in which this problem emerges. 

6. Give a list of cases in which you may be faithful to God 
from now on. — Here the problem of the lesson is carried over 
to the threshold of action. The students have been thinking 
about what this problem has meant in their past; now they face 
the future. They have the great examples of the heroes to urge 
them, intimate illustrations from their personal experience to 
show what might be done, and equally forcible illustrations of 
disaster arising from unfaithfulness. At such a point is the 
psychological moment for raising the question, "What shall I 
do about it?" Not too many items should be included in the 
list; better one or two well concentrated upon than many, all 
of which may be neglected. 

' 7. How can I do this? — In this question lies the whole crux 
of the diflaculties of carrying teachings over into conduct. More 
ventures are lost by lack of method than are won by the pres- 
ence of ideals. For a hundred who have the ideal ten carry it 
through. The student may know what faithfulness means and 
acknowledge that he ought to exercise the virtue, but how to 
carry out the resolve is his great stumbling-block. Therefore 



APPENDIX 125 

the last two questions should have the major portion of time 
and emphasis in a lesson. 

Assignment. — These questions provide an excellent form for 
assignment of the next lesson. Ask the students to read the 
lesson and pick out the main teaching, get the setting, list simi- 
lar illustrations they have run across in their reading and in 
their own circle of acquaintances, list stories of unfaithfulness, 
pick out ways in which they may practice the virtue, and think 
about how they can do this. 



Samuel Called to be a Prophet— 1 Samuel 1. 24-28; 3. 1-20 
Wade Crawford Barclay 

Aim of the lesson. — To reveal some of the factors which enter 
into the preparation of a great religious leader. 

Approach to the lesson. — V/ho of you have received help in 
your lifetime from some strong man or woman? (Follow this 
question with others until the truth stands clearly revealed 
that we are all dependent upon the help and guidance of wise 
counselors and strong, able leaders.) Is our national depend- 
ence upon right leaders greater or less than our personal de- 
pendence? In the history of Israel there were few greater 
leaders than Samuel. He was a pastor (priest), a wise coun- 
selor (judge), and a great national leader (prophet). This les- 
son will reveal to us some of the factors which entered into hife 
early training and preparation for leadership. 

Lesson Development. — "And the child Samuel ministered unto 
Jehovah before Eli." This statement introduces us to the 
environment of Samuel's earliest years. (Bring out all the 
essential facts of the narrative preceding this lesson, especially 
that the child was given in answer to prayer, that he was given 
(dedicated) to the Lord, and brought to the temple to minister 
there.) Do these facts furnish us with an explanation of the 
underlying reasons for Samuel's great career? Is it desirable 
that the training of a prophet should begin early? How often 
are these early conditions provided today? May we hinder God's 
plans for leadership by failure to provide similar conditions? 

"Samuel!" Jehovah called the boy. The record is clear and 
emphatic. It was a divine call that came to the child Samuel. 
Priests and elders were near at hand — official representatives 
of religion — but the voice of God was spoken to the boy. The 



126 APPENDIX 

teaching here is perfectly plain; God calls children to his service. 
Has the monstrous doctrine sometimes been held that God does 
not reveal himself to childhood? 

The hearing ear and the obedient spirit. Can we elders re- 
fuse to be moved by the beautiful response of the child? Note 
the statements: "And he answered, Here am I." "And he ran 
unto Eli." "Speak, for thy servant heareth." The spirit of 
the child was responsive. Is it not the rational, normal thing 
for the child soul to answer to the call of God? What is the 
service we are called upon to render in this? Is it not our 
responsibility to- see that every child is surrounded by re- 
ligious influences and given religious training? If we allow 
other calls to be loud and boisterous, can we justly hold it 
against the child that he does not hear God's call? Do all 
children in America have a fair chance to hear? 

Parental responsiMUty emphasized. It is a striking fact that 
the message which God gave at this time through Samuel had 
to do with parental delinquency — "his sons made themselves 
vile, and he restrained them not." Parental restraint and dis- 
cipline, always important, sometimes is an absolute essential 
to the right training of child and youth. Are we failing at this 
point? (If time allows, emphasize the contrast between the 
career of Samuel and that of Eli's sons. They had similar en- 
vironment and early training, but the discipline which they 
required was lacking.) 

Advance Assignment. — Read the lesson (1 Sam. 4. 1-18) for 
next Sunday. What was the ark? V/hat had been its recent 
history? Seek a cause for Israel's defeat by the Philistines. 



The Evil Fruit c£ a Corrupt Tree — Matt. 7. 15-20 
Mary E. Moxcey 

Aim. — To help the girls recognize their own special forms 
of self-indulgence and to be able to cope with the "no harm in 
it" temptation. 

Point of contact. — Discuss the answers to the questions asked 
last week. The girls probably will say that temperance instruc- 
tion must be kept up, or else the liquor interests will get in 
again; they may talk about cigarettes. But the danger always 
is that girls shall take a temperance lesson as belonging espe- 
cially to boys and shut their eyes to their own weaknesses. Press 
on until they name some of their own indulgences. 



APPENDIX 127 

Development and conclusions. — A few months in age makes 
much difference as to the need and the wisdom of emphasizing 
the different "girl dissipations." The point in each is that, 
exactly as in the liquor habit, there is some practice that on 
each occasion "won't matter" or "is no harm this time," but 
which forms a habit whose fruit is evil. It may be abuse of the 
stomach in any of many ways: candy, pickles and spices, over- 
eating, which is surely making a weak and dirty "temple of 
the Holy Spirit." It may be the tendency to slack on work 
now, sure she can make it up at the end, bi^t more and more 
producing weak and lazy self-indulgence. It may be the allure- 
ment of doing things that are just bad enough to be exciting 
for fear you'll be found out — sneaking off to the "movies" or 
with the crowd to the park, flirting just enough to make things 
interesting but not to the point where she cannot take care of 
herself. It may be getting a little lax in behavior with the 
boys, just a little "rough-house" play, or a little spooning that 
"doesn't mean anything." Get the girls to do the characterizing 
of these practices — not by being yourself shocked or severe, but 
by pressing straightforward questions until they see that the 
other end of the road is the opposite direction from happiness 
and usefulness. Then help them make their own resolves that 
if the fruit is surely going to be bad, they will cut the tree 
down at once. 

Assignment. — Read over the standard Jesus set for the mem- 
bers of his kingdom (Matt. 6.22-24, 33; 7.1-5, 13, 14). How can 
girls measure up to it? What particular items are hardest? 



INDEX 



Action, relation to interest, 78. 

Activities, program of, 113; for 
an Intermediate Department, 
113. 

Activity, motor, 47. 

Activity, teaching through, chap- 
ter xi. 

Adams, John, 60. 

Aim: of a lesson plan, 65f.; social 
aim in religious education, 116 
£f.; effect of social aim, 119. 

Anecdote, as illustration, 56. 

Answers, insufficient, 49. 

Apperception, 19ff. 

Application, the, 69. 

Appreciation, lesson for, 103ff. 

Aristotle, 97. 

Arnold, Thomas, 10, 11, 14. 

Artificial motivation, 92. 

Assignment of the lesson, 45ff., 
69. 

Association: in relation to lesson 
for appreciation, 105; relation 
to interest, 78. 

Attention: what attention is, 72; 
kinds of, 74f.; use of various 
types, 75; principles governing, 
77f.; practical suggestions on, 
81ff. 

Awards: as means of motivation, 
92; for attention, 79f.; in exam- 
inations, 53. 

Bagley, W. C, 96, 53. 
Bailey, H. T., 59. 
Baldwin, Josephine L., 112. 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 104. 
Bible, a picture gallery of heroic 

souls, 9f. 
Biography, teacher's problem in 

teaching, 110. 
Blackboard, 61. 
Bright, John, 14. 
Bryant. Sara Cone, 31. 
Burton, E. D., 100. 



Change, relation to interest, 78. 



Character growth, lOf. 
Character, a well-rounded, 99. 
Charters, W. W., 34, 35. 
Child mind, the, 17. 
Choate, Rufus, 56. 
Christian ideal, understanding of 

the, 18f. 
Class as the unit of training, the, 

118. 
CoE, George Albert, 84. 
Colvin, S. S. 35, 66. 
Commands, the ineffectiveness of, 

82. 
Conduct: indication of effective 

teaching, 19; relation of feeling 

to, 97. 
Conscious life, 15. 
Consciousness of a great work, 

required of good teacher, 14. 
Conviction, required of good 

teacher, 13. 
Cooperation: of parents, 118; 

taught through team games, 

119. 
Cope, H. F., 110. 
Cultivation: of personality, duty 

of teacher, 9ff.; of social con- 
sciousness, 119ff. 

Davidson, John, 20, 57, 58. 

Deductive method: 21, 22; ef- 
fectiveness of, 23; place in reli- 
gious teaching, 25, 26. 

De Garmo, Charles, 36. 

Desire: for advancement as moti- 
vation, 89f.; for possession as 
motivation, 88f.; for promo- 
tion as motivation, 89f .; to know 
specific facts as motivation, 89. 

Development: of lesson, 68f.; of 
new interest, 79. 

Dbv^tey, John, 116, 120. 

Diagrams, 60. 

Discussion method, 39ff. 

Distractions, removal of, 81. 

Dramatization, teaching through, 
109 f. 



129 



130 



INDEX 



Drill: lesson, 51£f.; methods of, 

52. 
Du Bois, Patterson, 110. 

Eagerness for hard tasks, required 

of good teacher, 15. 
Earhart, Lida, 69. 
Education through self-activity, 

llOf. 
Effective story-telling, 32f 
Enthusiasm, required of good 

teacher, 13. 
Examinations, 53ff. 
Expressional activity; handwork 

as, llOf.; of service, 112f. 

Feeling. See Religious feeling. 

Feeling, the primacy of, 95; gives 
a sense of worth, 96; creates 
ideals, 96; has direct influence 
upon conduct, 97; is intimately 
related to religion, 98. 

Fitch, Joshua G., 34, 37. 

Freeland, G. E., 85, 121. 

Froebel, 28, 119. 

Galloway, T. W., 86. 
Games as motivation, 88. 
Generosity of spirit, required of 

good teacher, 13. ^ 
Genuineness, required of good 

teacher, 13. 
Gerson, Jean de, 27. 
Good humor, required of good 

teacher, 12. 

Handwork. See Expressional ac- 
tivities. 

Handwork, forms of, llOf.; guid- 
ing principles in using, 11 If. 

Hartshorne, Hugh, 100, 117. 

Herbart, 70. 

Herbartian plan, 70. 

Hofmann, Heinrich, 59. 

HoRNE, H. H., 31, 47. 

Hough, Lynn Harold, 102. 



Ideal: understanding Christian, 
18f.; pictures as embodiments 
of ideals, 60. 

Idealistic stories, 30. 

Ideals, relating new to old, 19ff. 



Illustrations, chapter vi. 

Incentives to attention, 79f. See 
Awards. 

Inductive method, 21, 22; effect- 
iveness of 23. 

Ineffectiveness of commands, 82. 

Instinct as basis of motive, ^. 

Instruction. See Types of in- 
struction. 

Instruction, purpose and general 
method of, chapter ii. 

Interest: chapter viii, 29; as 
basis of motive, 85f.; indicated 
by questions, 35; religious, 17f. 

Interdependence of emotion and 
intelligence in religion, 99f. 

Intermediate, Department, social 
program for, 113f. 

Involuntary attention, 74. 

James, Willl^m, 78. 

Keller, Albert von, 59. 

Keller, Helen, 12. 

Kimball, Edward, 44. 

King, President BGenry Church- 
ill, 10. 

Knowledge: organization through 
discussion, 34 ff.; organization 
through examinations, 53. 

Lecture method: advantages, 24; 
disadvantages, 25; place in 
religious teaching, 25, 26. 

Lesson: development, 68f.; for 
appreciation, 103ff.; material, 
97; study, 46f. 

Lesson plans, chapter vii. 

Lesson Study, the problem of get- 
ting, 46. 

Lessons, reproducing the, 107ff. 

Love: as motivation; 90f.; love of 
teacher as motivation of lesson 
preparation, 93; required of 
good teacher, llf. 

Lyon, Mary, 11. 

Maps: value and use of, 60; map- 
making as handwork, 111. 
Material illustrations, 58ff. 
Mather, Cotton, 17. 
Mathews, Shailer, 110. 
Metaphor, the, 57. 



INDEX 



131 



Method: discussion, 39ff. ; dra- 
matization, 109f.; in lesson for 
appreciation, 104; in question- 
ing, 38; lecture, 24f.; of culti- 
vating religious feeling, lOlf.; 
effect of the social motive on, 
119ff.; of religious instruction, 
general, chapter ii; of review, 
51; of questioning, 34ff.; of 
recitation, 34ff.; social project, 
120f.; story, 28ff. 

Model-making as handwork, 11. 

Moody, Dwight L., 44. 

Motivation: artificial, 92; of in- 
struction, 46f.; the secret of 
lesson preparation, 69f.; by 
plays and games, 88. 

Motives, use of, chapter ix. 

MURILLO, 59. 

NoRSWORTHY, Naomi, 89, 76. 
Notebooks as handwork, 111. 

Objects, use of, 58. 
Organization: of lesson material, 

67; of pupils' energy for social 

service, 117ff. 
Originality in use of illustrations, 

62, 63. 

Palmer, Alice Freeman, 9, 11. 

Parents, cooperation of, 48 

Pasteur, Louis, 101. 

Personality, supreme in teaching, 
9ff. 

Pestalozzi, 12. 

Picture-making as handwork, 111. 

Pictures, 59f . 

Plays as motivation, 88. See 
Dramatization. 

Point of Contact, 67. 

Principles: guiding handwork, 
111; governing interest and at- 
tention, 77; of illustration, 6 If. 

Prizes as means of motivation, 92. 

Problem, advantage for the lesson 
to be stated in terms of, 68. 

Problems: as incentives to at- 
tention, 80f.; should be definite- 
ly stated, 45. 

Programs for social service, 113ff. 

Project method, the, 80f. 

Purpose of religious instruction, 
chapter ii. 



Questions: developing, 36ff.: 
formal, 49; indications of inter- 
est, 35; informational, 35f., 54; 
method in asking, 38. 

Rankin, Mary E., 108. 1 

Raphael, 60. 

Reading, collateral, 47. 

Realistic stories, 30. 

Realization of need for training, 
required of good teacher, 14. 

Recitation, the, 44ff.; a cooper- 
ative enterprise, 34f.; social 
aim in the, 119; topical, 50. 

Religion: made real in persons, 
9f.; relation of feeling to reli- 
gion, 98. 

Religious feeling, cultivation of, 
chapter x. 

Religious interest, 17f. 

Repetition, 20f . See Drill lesson. 

Reproducing the lesson, 107f. 

Retelling lesson story, 108. 

Reviews, 50ff.; method of, 51. 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 59. 

RiBOT, 97. 

ROYCE, JOSIAH, 96. 

St. John, E. P., 27, 31, 32. 
Satisfaction as basis of motive, 86. 
Schopenhauer, 17. - j -■ ^ 
Self-control, required of good 

teacher, 12f. 
Self-cultivation recommended to 

teachers, 9ff. 
Sense of wonder required of good 

teacher, 15. 
Service as expressional activity, 

112f. 
Simile, the, 57. 
Social aim in religious education, 

116ff.; social consciousness, 

method of cultivating, 119ff.; 

social instincts, 91. 
Social living: the class as a school 

for, chapter xii; more than 

telling involved in training, 117. 
Social-project method, 120f. 
Social service, organization for, 

117ff. 
Social unit, the school as a, 117f. 
Socrates, 36. 
South, Robert, 55. 
Spontaneous attention, 74, 75. 



132 



INDEX 



Stereoscope, 61. 
Storv, the, chapter iii. 
Strayer, G. D., 52, 104. 
Study, teaching pupils how to, 47. 
Subject matter, problems of, 87. 
Successful teaching, qualities 

making for, llff. 
Sullivan, Anna, 12. 
S^Tupathy as motivation, 90f. 

Taylor, A. R., 15. 

Teaching: by personal influence. 
Off.; by instruction, 34ff.; by 
story-telling, 27ff.; through 
activity, 106ff.; through devel- 
opment and training of the 
emotional life, 98f.; qualities 
making for successful, llff. 
See IMethods. 

Team games to teach cooperation, 
119. 

TUPPER, V. G., 95. 



Types of instruction: deduction, 

21, 22, 23; examinations, 53ff.; 
Herbartian, 70; induction, 21, 

22, 23; illustration, 55ff.; lec- 
ture, 24ff.; question and dis- 
cussion method, chapter iv; 
recitation, 44ff.; reviews, 50ff.; 
story, chapter iii. 

Understanding as motivation, 90. 

Unit: the class as a unit of train- 
ing, llSf.; the school as a 
social unit, 117f. 

Verbal illustrations, 56f. 
Voluntary attention, 74f . 

Ward, Harry F., 121. 
Whitley, Mary T., 76, 89. 
Worship, meaning of, 102f.; the 

teacher and the service of, 

103. 



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